Sensex, Nifty Close Marginally Down In Range-Bound Trade

Benchmark Sensex and Nifty closed marginally down in a range-bound trade on Wednesday due to profit taking by investors after two straight days of gains amid mixed global trends and foreign fund outflows.
     
The 30-share Sensex declined 17.15 points or 0.03 per cent to settle at 60,910.28. During the day, it declined 213.66 points or 0.35 per cent to 60,713.77.
     
The broader NSE Nifty closed lower by 9.80 points or 0.05 per cent to end at 18,122.50.
     
From the Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement and Tata Motors were the major laggards.
     
Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid and Maruti were among the winners.
     
"The benchmark indices traded dull and ended almost flat amid mixed cues. After the initial downtick, the Nifty spent the entire day in a narrow band however the tone was on the positive side, thanks to buying select index majors," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd.
     
In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.45 per cent and midcap index gained 0.23 per cent.
     
Among sectoral indices, oil and gas advanced 1.26 per cent while energy climbed 1.22 per cent. Utilities (1.18 per cent), power (1.15 per cent), auto (0.70 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.68 per cent) also closed higher.
     
Financial Services, telecommunication, bankex, metal and teck were the laggards.
     
"Market wavered between gains and losses with investors taking their position around the flatline as mixed global cues troubled them to take a firm one-sided move," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
     
Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai ended lower, while Hong Kong settled in the green.
     
Equity exchanges in Europe were trading on a mixed note in mid-session deals.
     
Markets in the US ended mostly lower on Tuesday.
     
International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.74 per cent to USD 83.71 per barrel.
     
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 867.65 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.