Sensex, Nifty Snap Three-Day Record-Breaking Streak On Profit Booking

The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their three-day record-breaking streak on Wednesday as investors booked profit at record highs ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts, analysts said. Earlier in the day, benchmarks opened higher wherein the Sensex rose as much as 366 points to hit record high of 57,918.71 and Nifty 50 index touched an all-time high of 17,225.75. HDFC, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra and HDFC Bank were among the top drags on the Sensex.

The Sensex fell 214 points to close at 57,338 and Nifty 50 index declined 56 points to settle at 17,076.

"If the Nifty is able to sustain the level of 17,000, it can witness higher levels of 17,250-17,300. The momentum indicators like relative strength index (RSI) and moving average convergence divergence (MACD) are indicating positive outlook to continue," said Ashis Biswas, head of technical research at CapitalVia Global Research.

Ten of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the S&P BSE Realty index's over 5 per cent gain. Nifty Consumer Durables, PSU Bank, Bank, Private Bank and Media indexes also rose between 0.5-2 per cent.

On the other hand, Nifty Information Technology, Metal and Pharma indices ended lower.

Mid- and small-cap shares witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.75 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.3 per cent.

Abbott India, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electrical, Dalmia Bharat, Delta Corp, The India Cements, JK Cement, Oberoi Realty and Persistent Systems jumped in trade on Wednesday after the National Stock Exchange in a circular said that these stocks will be added to futures and options segment from the start of October series.

Mahindra & Mahindra was tip Nifty loser, the stock rose nearly 3 per cent to close at Rs 770. Cipla, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC, Infosys, JSW Steel, HCL Technologies, Grasim Industries and Tech Mahindra also fell between 1-2.7 per cent.

On the flipside, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, SBI Life, Nestle India, Axis Bank, Titan, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharat Petroleum, UPL and Larsen & Toubro were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,513 shares ended higher while 1,664 closed lower on the BSE.