Sensex, Nifty close higher; all eyes on US Fed policy meet
Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty Tuesday closed in the green on the emergence of buying in metal, energy and IT counters, but gains were capped by a caution among investors ahead of the crucial US Federal Reserve meeting.
Snapping its four-day losing streak, the 30-share Sensex settled the day at 39,046.34, 0.22 percent or 85.55 points higher. The index swung over 300 points in a highly volatile session.
Similarly, the 50-stock NSE Nifty ended at 11,691.50, up 0.17 percent or 19.35 points.
Sentiments turned a bit optimistic towards the fag-end of the session in view of lower crude oil prices and strengthening the rupee.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Vedanta, Coal India, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, and Infosys -- rising up to 2.47 percent.
On the other hand, Yes Bank emerged as the biggest loser, cracking 5.94 percent, followed by Maruti, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, and HDFC twins, shedding up to 2.20 percent.
Shares of Jet Airways plummeted 40.48 percent after State Bank of India-led consortium of lenders Monday decided to send the grounded Jet Airways to the National Company Law of Tribunal (NCLT) as they have not yet received any concrete proposal for the airline.
Sectorally, BSE oil and gas, tech, power, energy, metal, and utilities rose up to 1.13 percent, while BSE healthcare, auto, and FMCG fell up to 0.55 percent.
Broader BSE midcap index settled 0.08 percent higher and BSE smallcap index fell 0.42 percent.
Analysts opined that market is finding it difficult to sustain at elevated levels due to a host of reasons like muted corporate earnings, slow monsoon progress, concerns over corporate defaults and worries with regard to India-US trade disagreements.
"Today, the market ended positive supported by the ease in oil prices due to concern over global growth, trade-war, and uncertainties in the upcoming OPEC meeting. There was a hope that the weakening domestic market will be supported by fiscal and monetary measures. This hope is being tested today given continuous weak economic and monsoon data. The market will be careful during the ongoing FED meeting which is expected to provide a dovish," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.
The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates after its policy meeting, even as President Donald Trump has been in favor of a rate cut.
Elsewhere in Asia, Nikkei ended significantly lower; while Hang Seng, Nikkei, and Kospi settled on a positive note.
Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading in the green in early deals.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee appreciated 22 paise to 69.69 against the US dollar intra-day.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.64 percent to USD 60.55 per barrel.
