(Photo : NSE)
Indian stock markets closed on a positive note on Thursday, but after paring most of the gains in the morning session as the midcap and small-cap sectors came under pressure, leading to volatility.
Both the Indian benchmark indices reached record highs earlier in the day, supported by a 50-basis point cut in the interest rates by the US Federal Reserve and tracking positive cues from other Asian markets.
At the closing bell, the NSE Nifty 50 wasmarginally up by 0.15% to close at 25415.80 points. The 50-share index witnessed volatility after soaring to a record high of 25,611.95 points on intraday trading, while the BSE Sensex reached an all-time high of 83,773.61points, in the morning session but trimmed the gains to close at 83,184.8, up by 236.57 points or 0.29%.
The stock markets saw choppy trade as the broader midcap and small-cap segments came under selling pressure with speculations of foreign investment flow to the large-cap shares. The private bank, realty and FMCG sectors rose while the PSU bank, media and Pharma sectors declined. The broader Indian markets fell as small-cap and mid-cap indices closed in red declining sharply after the initial gains in the early trading session.
Top gainers on the Nifty included NTPC, which jumped 2.38%, followed by Titan (1.82%), Nestle India (1.77%), Kotak Mahindra (1.77%), and TATA Consumer Products Ltd (1.26%). BPCL (3.41%), COAL India (1.52%), ONGC and ADANI Ports(1.25%) were the top losers on NIFTY.
In the BSE, midcap stocks segment, Oil India fell by3.89 per cent to Rs 571.60 followed by Torrent Power(4.59%), BHEL(3.04%), Laurus Labs(2.89%), IDEA(19.60%) and IRCTC by 2.42%. BSE Small-Cap dropped 1.06%.
Market breadth was negative, with 906 shares advancing out of 2,866 shares traded, while 1882 shares declined and 78 remained unchanged.
Asian markets also saw strong gains with Japan's Nikkei surging 2.45% to close at 37,155.33, buoyed by a softening yenand Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied by 353.14 points, or 2%, to settle at 18,013.16.
