Sensex, Nifty erode early gains, end in red

Mumbai; Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to close in the red on Wednesday, ending two days of increases as bearish global markets weighed on investor sentiment. However, a recovering rupee and unabated foreign capital inflows helped the indices restrict the losses, traders said. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 151.60 points or 0.25 per cent lower at 61,033.55. The index witnessed volatility towards the fag-end and recorded an intra-day high of 61,447.23 and a low of 60,905.15. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty fell 45.80 points or 0.25 per cent to end at 18,157.

"Markets remained volatile and ended marginally lower, in absence of any major trigger. The majority of sectors traded in line with the benchmark and ended flat to marginally lower. Meanwhile, the broader indices underperformed and lost over half a per cent each. The recent market move indicates caution among the participants amid mixed signals from the global front. However, rotational buying across sectors is helping the index to maintain a positive tone. Amid all, we feel the prudent approach is to look for stock-specific opportunities for trading until Nifty regains momentum," said Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking.

Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services, adds: "A major next trigger could be the US CPI inflation, to be announced tomorrow. Consensus indicates a moderation to 7.9 per cent in October compared to 8.2 per cent in September. A fast slowdown in inflation would provide the fuel for the market to edge higher, the key problem of 2022."

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers in the Indian capital market on Monday, as they bought shares worth Rs 1,948.51 crore, as per exchange data.