Mumbai/Delhi : Benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty initially rose in the early trade on Wednesday but ended in the red at close mainly due to downfall in IT stock prices amidst fading hopes of early US interest rate cuts and weakness in energy stocks.
NSE Nifty 50 dropped by 0.64 per cent to 22,055.05 while the BSE Sensex fell by 0.59 per cent to72,623.09.
Nine of the 13 major sectors registered a fall, with 37 Nifty 50 stocks recording losses. Nifty Auto, IT, Pharma, FMCG indices were among the top losers while PSU Bank traded in the green.
IT stocks fell for the third consecutive day, losing 1.64 per cent in response to a recent US inflation reading. Also, Energy stocks, after registering a gain of 50 per cent over the last 16 weeks, fell by 1.68 per cent.
Shares of Zee Entertainment fell 15 per cent after a news agency report claimed $241 million ‘missing funds’. Besides, Zee also denied of attempting to save its merger deal with Sony India.
Small-caps and mid-caps segments, underperformed the benchmarks, slipping by 1.04 per cent and 1.25 per cent respectively. Energy Sector and small-caps and mid-caps, which witnessed sharp rises recently, witnessed profit booking.
Meanwhile, the Rupee gained 6 paise to reach 82.91 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday. The rise was mainly due to a weak American currency and positive equity market sentiment.
In another development, Gold prices rose Rs 150 to reach Rs 62,850 per ten grams in Delhi on Wednesday amidst strong global cues in the overseas markets, HDFC Securities sources said.
Silver also jumped Rs 100 to touch Rs 75,700 per kg.
