Markets end in red on profit booking

Mumbai: Ending the rally of five consecutive sessions of gains, the Indian equity indices on Wednesday settled in the red as traders took to profit booking.

The decline in the domestic market was in line with the negative trend in the global markets. Heavy selling pressure was witnessed in auto, IT and capital goods stocks.

On Wednesday the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 11,132.60, lower by 29.65 points or 0.27 from its previous close of 11,162.25 points. The BSE Sensex closed at 37,871.52, lower by 58.81 points or 0.16 per cent from the previous close of 37,930.33.

It had opened at 38,178.07 and touched an intra-day high of 38,199.27 and a low of 37,601.62 points. Rahul Sharma, Market Strategist and Research Head, Equity99 Advisors, said: "Swinging between losses and gains through the day, markets settled in the red today, snapping the five-day rally.

In an extreme volatile trading session, traders were seen closing open positions to rollover their positions to the August 2020 series ahead of derivative expiry on Thursday."

He added that traders were actively booking profits in select banking and financial stocks. Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, noted that major Asian markets closed on a negative note and European indices including FTSE, DAX and CAC also ended lower.