Sensex Slumps Over 900 Points From Day's High To End Marginally Higher

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes erased gains of over 2 per cent to close marginally higher in trade on Wednesday as Reliance Industries slumped over 9 per cent from record high after its chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said that the Saudi Aramco deal has not progressed as per the original timelines. Earlier in the day, Sensex rallied as much as 777 points from its previous close and Nifty touched an intraday high of 10,827 powered by rally in IT shares.

The Sensex ended 19 points higher at 36,052 and Nifty advanced 11 points to close at 10,618.

Six of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by Nifty IT index's over 5 per cent gain. On the other handm Nifty Energy, Infra and Banking indexes ended lower wiping out almost entire day's gains.

Wipro was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock jumped nearly 18 per cent, its biggest single-day gain since May 2004, after the Bangalore-based IT reported a net profit of Rs 2,390.20 crore for the quarter ended June 30, beating analysts' expectations.

Infosys, the country's second-largest IT company, jumped as much as 8.27 per cent to Rs 848 after it announced strategic partnership with Vanguard as part of its ongoing strategy to enhance and evolve its full-service defined contribution (DC) business. This strategic partnership will deliver a technology-driven approach to plan administration and fundamentally reshape the corporate retirement plan experience for its sponsors and participants, Infosys said in a statement. The company is due to announce its earnings later in the day.

On the flipside, Reliance Industries ended 4 per cent lower after swinging in wide range of 9 per cent. "Due to unforeseen circumstances in energy market and the COVID-19 situation Saudi Aramco deal has not progressed as per original timelines," Mukesh Ambani told shareholders at its 43rd Annual General Meeting.

The overall market breadth turned negative as 1,532 shares ended lower while 1,092 closed lower on the BSE.