Market retreats from record high

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex slipped from record highs to end marginally lower on Wednesday while the Nifty edged up to a fresh closing record amid profit-booking in financial stocks and muted global cues.

After touching a low of 44,169.97 during the session, the 30-share Sensex pared most losses to finish at 44,618.04, down 37.40 points or 0.08 per cent. The broader NSE Nifty edged higher by 4.70 points or 0.04 per cent to end at its fresh closing record of 13,113.75. Banking and finance stocks bore the brunt of profit selling ahead of the RBI policy announcement this week. Kotak Bank was the top loser among Sensex stocks, dropping by 3.28 per cent.

HDFC Bank declined by 1.86 per cent, HDFC by 1.28 per cent and ICICI Bank by 0.99 per cent. SBI fell 0.5 per cent while Bajaj Finance shed 0.72 per cent. Larsen & Toubro dropped 0.16 per cent. On the other hand, ONGC rose the most by 4.11 per cent, followed by Asian Paints (3.74 per cent) and Titan (3.48 per cent). Auto stocks gained after the companies reported sales growth in the domestic market in November, aided by robust offtake amid the festival season. Bajaj Auto rose by 2.86 per cent, Mahindra and Mahindra by 2.53 per cent and Maruti Suzuki by 1.47 per cent.

IT majors TCS and Infosys recovered from early lows to close higher by 0.81 per cent and 0.33 per cent, respectively. Global markets struggled to extend their recent bull run as investors monitored the coronavirus vaccine progress and stimulus talk in the US. Meanwhile, Britain became the first country to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, which is expected to be rolled out as early as next week. "After the bull run, banking stocks are taking a halt, in anticipation of the Supreme Court hearing on moratorium and ongoing MPC meeting while both the outcomes are unlikely to hurt the banking industry.