Sensex trims initial gains, still up by 18 points

Mumbai, Feb 19 – The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex trimmed initial gains but was quoted higher by 18 points in late morning trade on Wednesday due to buying in healthcare, IT and tech counters, mainly on the back of overnight gains in the US market and sustained capital inflows from foreign funds.

The Sensex resumed higher at 20,643.85 and firmed up to 20,694.42 on initial buying. However, it declined afterwards to 20,629.56 before quoting at 20,652.37 at 1030 hrs, a gain of 18.16 points or 0.09 per cent, from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved up by 6.95 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 6,134.05 at 1030 hrs.

Major gainers were Sun Pharma (1.52 per cent), Infosys (1.36 per cent), M&M (0.94 per cent), Gail India (0.90 per cent), Bharti Airtel (0.86 per cent), and TCS (0.78 per cent).

However, SSTL fell by 1.37 per cent, Tata Steel (1.35 per cent), HDFC (1.11 per cent), Tata Power (1.07 per cent) and Maruti (0.66 per cent).

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 292.23 crore on Tuesday, says provisional data from the stock exchanges.

US stocks settled mostly higher on Tuesday with the NASDAQ Composite recording its eighth consecutive session of gains, the longest since July 2013.

However, most Asian stocks fell in early trade on Wednesday. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan fell in the range of 0.02 per cent and 0.68 per cent while indices in China and Singapore were up between 0.37 per cent and 0.63 per cent.

 

TOI