Sensex Pares Early Gains, Ends Below 29,000

Mumbai: The Sensex rose 28 points to end at 28,892.97 on Thursday after early gains were undone by a sell-off amid expiry of derivatives contracts.

The benchmark surged past the psychologically-key 29,000-mark in intra-day trade, before succumbing to profit booking as investors turned cautious following expiry of February series derivatives contracts.

Bharti Airtel surged almost 11 per cent after the telecom major said it will acquire Telenor India for an undisclosed sum. It finally ended at Rs 366.05, up 1.36 per cent. The BSE telecom index was the best performer among sectoral indices, ending the day 1.82 per cent higher.

The 30-share Sensex opened strong and hit a high of 29,065.31 in afternoon trade, but fell to 28,860.46 as investors booked profits, before ending 28.26 points, or 0.10 per cent higher at 28,892.97.

The gauge has now gained 737.41 points in six straight sessions, its longest rally since June 27 to July 4, 2016. The 50-share NSE Nifty too ended higher by 12.60 points, or 0.14 per cent at 8,939.50, after shuttling between 8,982.15 and 8,927.55.

This was the fifth straight week of gains for both the Sensex and Nifty. The Sensex recorded a rise of 424.22 points, or 1.49 per cent, while the Nifty gained 117.80 points, or 1.33 per cent for the week.

Markets will remain shut on Friday on account of Mahashivratri.

"Markets extended gains supported by renewed buying in IT and telecom but volatility ahead of expiry and concern on risk reward influenced investors to book some profit.

"The Fed minutes has pointed at only a gradual rate hike which is positive for India as in the short term the weakness in USD is likely to continue," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

The rupee showed some strength, rising 16 paise intra-day against the dollar at 66.80.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth Rs 259.21 crore on Wednesday, provisional data showed.

Globally, Asian markets mostly ended lower with Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling 0.06 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.30 per cent. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.04 per cent.

Europe was also mixed, with Paris CAC 40 rising 0.21 per cent, Frankfurt up 0.08 per cent but UK's FTSE falling 0.06 per cent in early trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index provisionally ended up 0.19 percent, while the small-cap index gained 0.11 per cent. Out of the 30-share Sensex pack, 15 scrips ended higher.

Major gainers were TCS (2.99 per cent), Wipro (2.53 per cent), Infosys (1.73 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.36 per cent), ITC (0.83 per cent), Sun Pharma (0.75 per cent) and Cipla (0.64 per cent).

However, Reliance lost 2.07 per cent, Asian Paints 1.10 per cent, Power Grid 1.09 per cent, Adani Ports 0.87 per cent, NTPC 0.78 per cent, HUL 0.75 per cent and Maruti 0.73 per cent.

Among major indices, telecom rose 1.82 per cent, followed by IT (1.70 per cent), teck (1.65 per cent), realty (0.78 per cent), consumer durables (0.47 per cent), metal (0.39 per cent) and capital goods (0.29 per cent). Energy fell 0.80 per cent, power 0.68 per cent, utilities 0.65 per cent, oil and gas 0.26 per cent and auto 0.06 per cent.

Market breadth remained negative as 1,529 stocks ended lower, 1,232 closed higher while 203 ruled steady.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3,278.17 crore, lower than Rs 3,575.62 crore registered during the previous trading session.