Mumbai, Aug 16 (IANS): Nifty ended marginally in the positive for the second consecutive session on Wednesday after recovering sharply from the morning weakness, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
At close, Nifty was up 0.06 per cent or 12.4 points at 19,446.9, while the BSE Sensex climbed 137.50 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 65,539.42.
Volumes on the NSE continued to be on the lower side compared to the recent average. Broad market indices rose more than the Nifty even as the advance decline ratio rose to 1.06:1.
Asia-Pacific markets declined on Wednesday, amid worries over discouraging data on China, as well as over the future of the US economy. European stocks were muted after their slump on Tuesday as investors awaited further clues on the path of interest rates from the US Federal Reserve and announcement of a meaningful stimulus from Beijing, Jasani said.
Both the headline indices closed in the green with gains of 30.45 and 137.5 points for Nifty and Sensex, respectively, indicating there is buying strength at a meaningful dip, said Omkar Kamtekar, Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.
A similar story was seen in the boarder markets as well, which recouped the losses in early trade to comfortably close in the green by the close of trade.
The Nifty opened lower by 65 points while Sensex shed 163 at the open, and continued downwards to mark an intra-day low of 19,317.2 for Nifty and 65,032.89 for Sensex. Investor sentiment took a hit as the IIP and Inflation print came in much worse than the expectation of the street, Kamtekar said.
SBFC Finance saw a stellar debut listing at a 44 per cent premium and closing the session with 61.75 per cent gains, he added.
As the Cabinet approved the PM e-Bus Seva Scheme, wherein 10,000 new e-Buses would be rolled out across 100 cities, it led to a sharp rally in the stocks of Olectra (8.76 pert cent) and JBM Auto (10.13 per cent).
Hospital stocks saw significant buying interest with Apollo Hospitals being the top gainer in Nifty, alongside Ultratech Cement and NTPC. Banking and metals stocks saw selling pressure with Tata Steel and Hindalco being among the top losers for Nifty.