Late hour buying pushes up equity market indices

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) A late hour buying spurt aided India's key equity market indices to make gains on Wednesday.

However, for the most part of the session, market breadth remained weak as mid and smallcaps fell due to profit booking.

Globally, stocks dropped for a second day amid concerns over economic shutdowns, which are becoming necessary to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, after hitting an intra-day low at 1 p.m., the two key domestic indices recovered, before a late surge post 3 p.m. gave a further push into the positive territory.

Sector wise, IT, FMCG and healthcare stocks rose, whereas metals, realty and telecom stocks fell the most.

Consequently, the NSE Nifty50 touched a record high of 16,628.5 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex reached 55,854.8 points during the session.

At the end of the day's trade, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 55,792.27 points, up by 209.69 points or 0.38 per cent from its previous close.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty50 closed at 16,614.60, higher by 51.55 points or 0.31 per cent from its previous close.

"Turmoil in Afghanistan and unease about China's economic outlook after weak July activity added to the concerns as Chinese factory output, consumer spending and investment grew slower in July than expected," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

"Sector rotation is being seen with IT and FMCG rising while Metals and Telecom undergoing correction. Nifty could continue to rise gradually but the broader markets could take time to complete their correction," he added.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head, Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said: "In line with the weakness in the global market, the domestic market too remained sideways throughout the session before witnessing spike in the fag end of the session to end the day at fresh record high. Metals, banks and realty stocks witnessed profit booking. On the other hand, sugar stocks surged post the reports of possible price hikes.

"On stock specific front, Tata Consumer, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, HUL and Nestle were the top gainers while JSW Steel, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Coal India and UPL were the top losers."