The Indian market closed lower on Wednesday as investors remained cautious on global uncertainty. All eyes are now on the RBI MPC meet on Feb 7 and Delhi Election results on Feb 8.
The Sensex fell 312.53 points or 0.40% to 78271.28 after hitting a high of 78735.41 and low of 78226.26.
The Nifty ended 42.95 points lower at 23696.30 after touching a high of 23807.30 and low of 23680.45.
Many stocks supported the market, with Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank being top gainers. Their shares rose 0.4% to 1.6% during the day.
However, selling was seen in Asian Paints, Nestle India, Titan Company, ITC, HUL, and L&T with Asian Paints leading the decline with 4% fall.
The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. Nifty MidCap rose 1.13% and Nifty SmallCap 1.99%.
Most of the sectoral indices on NSE closed in green except Nifty FMCG, Realty, Auto, and Consumer Durable which fell 1.85%.
On the other hand, buying was seen in PSU Bank, Metal, OMCs, and Media stocks with these indices rising 1% each.
According to Aditya Gaggar of Progressive Shares, the market opened strong but faced resistance around 23800 levels and reversed. The Index went flat without any momentum and oscillated between positive and negative to close at 23696.30 down by 42.95 points. Media and Energy were good while Realty and FMCG fell more than 1.5%, he added.
Meanwhile, RBI is expected to cut repo rate by 25 bps as per the budget stance of stimulating economy while managing the fiscal discipline.
