Sensex, Nifty Snap 4-Day Losing Streak Led By Gains In ICICI Bank, Infosys

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 Indexes snapped their four-day losing streak led by gains in ICICI Bank, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, HCL Technologies, State Bank of India and Larsen & Toubro. Earlier in the day, the benchmarks opened higher ahead of the US Federal Reserve's two-day interest rate meeting later in the day. In intraday deals, the Sensex rose as much as 207 points and the NSE Nifty 50 Index moved above its important psychological level of 11,700.

The Sensex ended 0.22 per cent or 86 points higher at 39,046 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.17 per cent or 19 points to settle at 11,692.

The Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged after its policy meeting this week, even as President Donald Trump pressed fresh demands for a rate cut.

Back home, among the individual shares, Jet Airways slumped as much as 54 per cent to Rs 31.65 after creditors said that they plan to begin insolvency proceedings against the grounded airline. Jet Airways stock plunged as much as 53.72 per cent to a record low of Rs. 31.65 in intraday trade on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Jet shares slumped 52.78 per cent to an intraday low of Rs. 32.25 apiece.

Vedanta was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock rose 2.5 per cent to end at Rs 168.15. Bharat Petroleum, Coal India, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Indian Oil and Infosys were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Indiabulls Housing Finance was top loser, the stock dropped 7.35 per cent to close at Rs 606.60. Yes Bank, Hindalco, Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki, Britannia Industries, Bharti Infratel and HDFC also fell between 0.8 and 5.9 per cent.

Fifteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended higher led by the S&P BSE Oil & Gas Index's 1.13 per cent gain. On the other hand, S&P BSE Auto Index was top loser, down 0.5 per cent.

The mid- and small-cap shares underperformed their larger peers as the S&P BSE MidCap Index ended on a flat note while The S&P BSE SmallCap Index fell 0.4 per cent.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,572 shares ended lower while 964 closed higher on the BSE.