Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty Wednesday ended flat as cautious investors refrained from taking any positions in view of upcoming key events like F&O expiry, US Fed policy outcome and upcoming Union Budget.
The BSE Sensex ended marginally lower by 1.25 points and the NSE Nifty closed with a negligible loss of 0.4 point. Heavyweights ICICI Bank and Tata Steel — both rising over 5 per cent — saved the day for the Sensex.
Also, mixed trading pattern in global shares as US-China trade talks kicked off earlier in the day made domestic investors even more cautious.
“While investors are grappling with a plethora of worries, from trade talks, the Fed meetings and the budget, markets continue to stay resilient. All eyes turn to the budget later this week,” according to analysts.
Investors will be interested in understanding the consumption boost that can be expected from budgetary relief packages and in particular, the plan for financing the measures as well as impact on borrowing costs, they said.
After opening over 200 points higher, the 30-share Sensex swung 359 points to finally settle 1.25 points lower at 35,591.25. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty ended 0.40 points down at 10,651.80. Sectorally, metal and banking stocks rallied the most, while FMCG and realty stocks came under selling pressure. B
roader indices, however, outperformed benchmark indices with BSE Smallcap index jumping 0.78 per cent and BSE Midcap index rising 0.22 per cent. (PTI)
