Sensex, Nifty Eke Out Gains; IT Shares Show The Way

Equity benchmark Sensex jumped 134 points on Wednesday, tracking gains mainly in IT stocks, despite weak global cues.

The 30-share BSE index ended 134.32 points or 0.25 per cent higher at 52,904.05, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 41.60 points or 0.26 per cent to 15,853.95.

Tech Mahindra was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, Infosys, L&T, Tata Steel and ITC.

On the other hand, Maruti, HUL, Nestle India and Dr Reddy's were among the laggards.

"Dropping institutional participation rates have contributed in part to a 20 per cent drop in daily market volumes – however, market breadth and retail participation in futures segment continue to remain robust and underpinning strength in ongoing broad market rally," said S Hariharan, Head- Sales Trading, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Further, he noted that strong investor interest in new issuances like Zomato, Tatva Chintan and Clean Science have also contributed to some extent to reduced flows into the secondary segment, and a loaded pipeline of issues in the coming few months would be expected to play a similar role.

"July has seasonally been the lowest volatility month for headline indices in the last 15 years, and we expect similarly subdued index moves this year too. The ongoing results season can be expected to see strong numbers from IT, chemicals and real estate businesses, while numbers would be relatively weaker for autos and financials names,” he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo ended with losses.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading in the red in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.82 per cent to USD 75.86 per barrel.