Profit booking, mixed earnings drag equities lower

MUMBAI: Profit booking, along with mixed earnings results and investors' anxiety on the outcome of the US Fed's monetary policy meet, dragged the key Indian equity indices lower on Wednesday.

Consequently, the key equity indices ceded early gains to close in negative territory.

However, market breadth was positive on both the BSE and the NSE.

Sectorally, the top gainers were the BSE Healthcare, Metal, Telecom and Capital Goods indices, whereas the losers included BSE Auto, Oil and Gas and IT indices.

Index-wise, the NSE Nifty50 closed at 11,202.85, losing 97.70 points or 0.86 per cent from its previous close.

The Sensex closed at 38,071.13, lower by 421.82 points or 1.10 per cent from the previous close of 38,492.95.

It opened at 38,427.15 and touched an intra-day high of 38,617.03 and a low of 37,884.41 points.

In terms of global markets, major Asian indices closed on a mixed note, while European indices like the FTSE and CAC ended higher.

"Technically, while the Nifty has corrected today, the short term trend still remains up. Traders will need to watch if the Nifty can hold above the immediate support of 11,151-11,090 for the uptrend to sustain," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services: "Indian indices gave up gains and closed in the negative with profit booking seen in the recent outperformer RIL. Global markets were generally undecided ahead of the US Fed Reserve meeting and mixed earnings reports in addition to rising virus cases forcing economies to reconsider restrictions to contain the spread."

"Stock specific action was also visible, post earnings results, and this trend is expected to continue. Adequate liquidity in the market should ensure that these corrections are bought into." (IANS)

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