Sensex, Nifty settle marginally up; GMDC, BPCL jumps up to 13%

Domestic equity markets settled flat for another session after a choppy trading session on Wednesday, making the ending in green as the only change compared to previous closing. Mixed global cues ahead of the US Fed chairman's speed due later today weighed on the sentiments.

For the day, BSE's Sensex added 33.21 points, or 0.05 per cent, to end at 64,975.61. NSE's Nifty50 gained 36.80 .05 points, or 0.19 per cent, to end the day at 19,443.50. Broader markets outperformed the headline indices as BSE midcap and smallcap indices added up two-third to three-fourth a per cent. Fear gauge India VIX shed a per cent to 11.04-mark.

Nifty showed positive trend as investors eagerly anticipated Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's upcoming speech, said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities. "The market's positive sentiment is reinforced by Nifty's 21 DMA in 19408 and 50 DMA in 19564, with the 200 DMA in 18665," he said.

On a sectoral front, the Nifty Realty index gained about 2 per cent, while the Nifty pharma and healthcare indices rose more than a per cent each. The Nifty oil & gas, FMCG and metal indices also posted decent gains. However, the Nifty IT and financial services indices were the biggest laggards for the day.

In the NIfty50 pack, Bharat Petroleum was up 3 per cent, while Adani Ports, Asain Paints and Cipla gained more than 2 per cent each. Titan Company, Larsen & Toubro, Eicher Motors, Adani Enterprises and ONGC added more than a per cent each for the day. On the contrary, ICICI Bank topped among the losers, while Infosys, NPTC, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consumer shed a per cent each.

The domestic market traded range bound with a positive bias. And further confidence may be derived from the global market cues post the FED chair speech. Oil prices continued to fall, which will provide respite to the domestic economy and navigate a downward trajectory to inflation & fiscal, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

A total of 3,828 shares were traded on BSE on Wednesday, of which 2,019 settled with gains. 1,683 stocks ended the session with gains while 126  shares remained unchanged. During the day, 304 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 189 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.
 
Markets remained range-bound and ended marginally in the green. After the flat start, Nifty oscillated in a narrow range till the end. Meanwhile, participants should continue with the stock-specific trading approach, with bias on the positive side, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking.

In the broader markets, Prince Pipes & Fitting surged about 16, while Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation gained 13 per cent. PNB Gilts and MIL gained 11 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, while Rama Steel Tubes and Sigachi Industries gained 8 per cent each.

On the contrary, RACL Geartech dropped 12 per cent, while HimatSingka Seide tumbled more than 10 per cent. GOCL Corporation tanked 9 per cent and Orient Paper & Industries was down 8 per cent. SJS Enterprises and Aarti Pharmalabs shed 6-7 per cent for the day.

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