New Delhi: New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices on Wednesday (March 11) ended on a flat note with the Sensex closing 62 points or 0.18 per cent higher at 35,697. The broader Nifty, however, ended at 10,458, up 7 points or 0.07 per cent. Top gainers in the 30-pack Sensex included Hero MotoCorp, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and L&T, while Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, ONGC, SBI, and Infosys ended significantly lower.
In the afternoon trade, Indian stock markets witnessed a rebound as investors took to lower level buying with the Sensex rising over 270 points, after the rout in the last trading session.
At 1.47 pm, the Sensex was trading at 35,907.47, higher by 272.52 points or 0.76 per cent from the previous close of 35,634.95. It had opened at 35,468.90 and has so far touched an intra-day high of 36,021.51 and a low 35,261.92 points.
The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 10,527.80, higher by 76.35 points or 0.73 per cent from its previous close. Among the sectoral indices, banking, finance, and energy stocks were among the gainers while IT, consumer durables and oil and gas witnessed heavy selling.
During early hours today, equity benchmark indices wobbled as their Asian peers dropped amid spreading coronavirus (Covid-19) globally. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 69 points to 35,566 while the Nifty 50 dipped by 32 points at 10,419. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty IT down by 1.4 per cent, metal by 0.9 per cent and FMCG by 0.8 per cent.
Among stocks, Yes Bank was up by 20 per cent at Rs 25.50 per share as State Bank of India readied a reconstruction plan for the troubled private sector lender, which has been grappling with mounting bad loans and struggling to raise fresh capital.
Meanwhile, Asian shares and Wall Street futures fell amid growing scepticism about Washington`s stimulus package to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
MSCI`s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan down by 0.29 per cent while Japan`s Nikkei stock index slid by 1.28 per cent.
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said he will take major steps to ease economic strains caused by the spread of flu-like virus. But the lack of major announcements since then has left some investors unimpressed.
(With Agency Inputs)
