Markets closed with modest gains; Sensex adds 134 points & Nifty ends at 15,854
Markets closed with modest gains
Benchmark indices ended with decent gains on Wednesday. The S&P BSE Sensex index advanced 134.32 points or 0.25 per cent to end at 52,904.05. The Nifty 50 added 41.60 points or 0.26 per cent higher at 15,853.95. However, the Nifty Bank index fell 5.15 per cent or 0.01 per cent to close at 35,668.25.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap rose 0.21 per cent and S&P BSE SmallCap rose 0.24 per cent and 0.45 per cent.
Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1791 shares rose and 1448 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index on NSE, 22 shares advanced and 28 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty 50 were Wipro (up 6.99 per cent), Tech Mahindra (up 2.56 per cent), Infosys (up 2.10 per cent), HCL Technologies (up 2.06 per cent), Larsen & Turbo (up 1.80 per cent). The top five losers were Maruti (down 1.42 per cent), Adani Ports (down 1.04 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (down 0.99 per cent), Nestle India (down 0.94 per cent) and Titan (down 0.85 per cent).
COVID-19 Update
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 18,77,98,855 with 40,48,942 deaths. India reported 4,29,946 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 4,11,408 deaths while 3,01,04,720 patients have been discharged, data showed.
Economy
India's annual rate of inflation based on WPI was at 12.07 per cent in June 2021 (over June 2020) compared with (-)1.81 per cent in June 2020 and 12.94 per cent in May 2021.
Singapore's economy grew 14.3 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, official advanced estimates showed on Wednesday. Still, the economy contracted by 2 per cent as compared with the previous quarter, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry said.
US inflation rose at its fastest pace in nearly 13 years, the Labour Department reported on Tuesday. The consumer price index increased 5.4 per cent in June from a year ago. Core CPI, excluding food and energy, jumped 4.5%, the sharpest move for that measure since September 1991. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to appear in front of Congress on Wednesday and Thursday to provide an update on monetary policy.