Unabated FII outflows limit market rally

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty extended rally for the third straight session on Wednesday amid buying in index majors IndusInd Bank, Nestle India and HCL Tech. However, continuous foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in global equities restricted gains in the market, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 169.87 points or 0.28 per cent to settle at 60,300.58. During the day, it jumped 232.08 points or 0.38 per cent to 60,362.79. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 44.35 points or 0.25 per cent to end at 17,813.60.

"The domestic bourses mirrored the mood on Wall Street as soft economic data and underwhelming earnings dragged US equities to a weak close yesterday. However, the market gradually recovered after an uptick in US futures, with the earnings of tech companies providing support.

Adding to investors' concerns about a possible recession, the US consumer confidence data for April hit a nine-month low ahead of the upcoming Fed policy meeting," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.97 per cent and the smallcap index gained 1.29 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, realty jumped 1.30 per cent, capital goods climbed 1 per cent, telecommunication (0.88 per cent), industrials (0.71 per cent) and FMCG (0.61 per cent). Metal, healthcare and energy ended in the red.

PowerGrid was the biggest gainer among the Sensex components, spurting 2.59 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Nestle, HCL Tech, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC were the major winners.

On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Reliance Industries and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest laggards, dropping up to 0.84 per cent.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 407.35 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.