The Indian equity benchmark indices closed in the red for the second straight session following a gap down opening Wednesday, tracking weaknesses from global markets. Selling pressure in financial and IT stocks further weakened the markets, though IT stocks attempted recovery and closed above the flatline.
Among the 50 stocks on Nifty, Coal India, NTPC, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, and IOC lead the gains, as each scrip rose over 4 to 6 percent higher. Leading the losses were HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, UltraCement, and Eicher Motors.
Among sectors on NSE, a strong rally was seen in metals, PSU Banks, pharma, and realty indexes, whereas Nifty Bank and IT witnessed selling. Nifty Private Bank closed 1 percent lower, and Nifty Bank was down half a percent. Nifty IT ended above the flatline.
Power producers NTPC, Tata Power and Torrent Power, and Coal India, the country’s largest producer of the fuel, rose on Wednesday, spurred by rising demand.
State-run NTPC, India’s biggest power producer, and miner Coal India, which produces over 80 percent of India’s coal, recorded their biggest intraday rise in more than seven years. Both stocks have pared gains from the day’s highs.
Tata Power rose by as much as 9.6 percent to an nearly 14-year high, while Torrent Power, another private power producer, rose to a record.
Globally, investors sought to staunch the bleed on Wednesday after world stocks suffered their worst rout since January, while US and European borrowing costs raced to their highest in months.
Asia managed to slow the falls and the pan-European STOXX 600 index bounced 1 percent in early trading after shedding over 2 percent Tuesday and after all three major Wall Street indexes suffered their steepest drops since mid-July.
(With inputs from Reuters)
(Edited by : Yashi Gupta)
