Sensex falls 183 points; Nifty drops to 24,207.75

MUMBAI: Market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty drifted lower on Wednesday, giving up intraday gains, dragged by Reliance Industries and IT stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 183.15 points, or 0.24 per cent, to settle at 77,472.94. During the day, it touched a high of 77,986.84 and a low of 77,472.94, gyrating 513.9 points.

The 50-share NSE Nifty was down 126.80 points, or 0.52 per cent, to end at 24,207.75.

Among the 30 Sensex firms, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Industries were the major laggards.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank and Tata Steel were among the winners.

"Indian equity markets ended marginally lower on Wednesday as early gains gave way to profit-taking, with weakness in IT, FMCG, auto and consumer-durable stocks offsetting support from lower crude oil prices and a broadly constructive global backdrop," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, dropped 2.96 per cent to USD 85.96 per barrel.

"The Indian equity market saw a volatile performance in today’s trading session, where the Nifty remained below the 24,300 level along with the Sensex shedding its early gains. The fall in crude oil prices, owing to expectations of reduced tensions in the Strait of Hormuz region, helped, whereas underperforming sectors such as IT, FMCG, and consumer durables weighed down the market," Vikram Kasat - Chief Business Officer – Advisory and Dealing at PL Capital, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended higher.

Markets in Europe were trading mostly higher.

US markets ended in positive territory on Tuesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,593.53 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

In the last session, the Sensex bounced back during the fag-end of trading and was up 286.98 points, or 0.37 per cent, to settle at 77,656.09. Similarly, the Nifty ended higher by 115.50 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 24,334.55 on fag-end buying.