Mkts rise marginally after paring early gains

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty pared early sharp gains to close marginally higher in a volatile session on Wednesday as the US imposing 126 per cent import duties on Indian solar goods dampened investor sentiment and triggered profit-taking.

Retreating around 674 points from the day's high, the 30-share BSE Sensex finally ended 50.15 points or 0.06 per cent higher at 82,276.07. During the day, it jumped 731.99 points or 0.89 per cent to a high of 82,957.91. The 50-share NSE Nifty went up by 57.85 points or 0.23 per cent to settle at 25,482.50. It hit a high of 25,652.60 during the day, up by around 228 points from the last close.

From the Sensex pack, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, InterGlobe Aviation, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Tech Mahindra were among the biggest gainers. TCS rose by 2.14 per cent after the IT services giant asserted that it was "not afraid" of artificial intelligence and is also fine with revenue "cannibalisation" through the deployment of AI tools by its associates. Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Adani Ports and Eternal were among the laggards.

In the broader market, solar sector shares tanked more than 14 per cent after the US announced a preliminary countervailing duty of nearly 126 per cent on imports of certain Indian solar goods, alleging that these products are unfairly subsidised by New Delhi. Waaree Energies tumbled 10.47 per cent, Premier Energies dropped 6.27 per cent, Vikram Solar declined 5.45 per cent and Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy dipped 1.05 per cent.

"Equities markets advanced on Wednesday, supported by positive global cues, even as risk sentiment remained cautious against the backdrop of trade-related uncertainties. Domestically, sentiment was dampened after the US Commerce Department imposed a preliminary duty of 126 per cent on solar imports from India, citing unfair manufacturing subsidies that enabled exporters to undercut US producers. "Following the sharp selloff in the previous session, Indian equities closed slightly in the green," Siddhartha Khemka - Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

The BSE smallcap select index went up by 0.59 per cent and midcap select index advanced 0.37 per cent. Among sectoral indices, metal jumped the most by 2.64 per cent, followed by auto (1.82 per cent), BSE Focused IT (1.53 per cent), commodities (1.49 per cent), healthcare (1.35 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.74 per cent). Telecommunication,energy, FMCG and realty were the laggards.