After rising 162 points in early trade, the BSE benchmark Sensex on Wednesday surrendered most of the gains on profit selling in Bajaj Auto, SBI, Sterlite and Tata Steel shares but still managed to close 47 points up at one-week high of 19,608.08.
The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share indicator initially touched a high of 19,723.01, up by over 161.97 points.
However, the index pared gains after weakness crept in banks, real estate and metal stocks to finally settle at 19,608.08, a rise of 47.04 points or 0.24 per cent.
On Tuesday, it had risen by 100.47 points or 0.52 percent.
On the gainers side, Tata Motors closed 2.11 per cent higher on the back of strong volume numbers from JLR. HDFC, M&M, TCS and Infosys gained in the 1.2-1.8 per cent range.
“Stocks fell in the second half of trading day as it faced selling pressure at higher levels. European indices opened mixed and also put pressure on market sentiment,” said Nidhi Sarswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.
The market is now looking forward towards Thursday’s inflation (WPI) figures for further cues, traders said.
Outside the broader benchmark indices, Unitech closed flat after witnessing a sharp plunge on Tuesday. Kingfisher Airlines closed 5 per cent lower after lenders decided to start the process of recovering Rs 7,500 crore loans.
Power, metal, realty and capital good shares saw heavy buying. Sectorally, the IT sector gained the most by rising 1.29 per cent, followed by teck index up 0.98 per cent, auto sector index 0.26 per cent and oil&gas index by 0.12 per cent.
Brokers said the broader market continued to remain negative with second-line stocks attracting profit-booking by retail investors ahead of the Budget.
