Mumbai, Nov 19 (IANS): The Indian stock market, which saw a super rally on Tuesday, lost the steam towards the end amid heavy profit-booking, as fresh tensions between Ukraine and Russia came to light.
Sensex closed with a gain of 239 points after rising more than 1,100 points during the intra-day trading. The reversal happened after reports emerged about Ukraine's armed forces launching their first ATACMS missile strike on Russian border territory, with the Kremlin threatening to retaliate with dire consequences.
Heavy buying was seen in the media sector. Nifty Media registered a gain of 2.45 per cent.
Sensex closed at 77,578.38 after gaining 239.37 points or 0.31 per cent and Nifty closed at 23,518.50 with a gain of 64.70 points or 0.28 per cent.
Nifty Bank rose 262.70 points or 0.52 per cent to 50,626.50. Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at 54,548.25 at the end of trading after gaining 503.45 points or 0.93 per cent.
Nifty Small cap 100 index closed at 17,677.35 after gaining 170.10 points or 0.97 per cent.
Apart from media, buying was seen in auto, IT, financial services, pharma, FMCG, realty and private bank sectors.
In the Sensex pack, M&M, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Ultra Tech Cement, Adani Ports, Power Grid, Infosys, Axis Bank and TCS were the top gainers Whereas, Reliance, SBI, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti and L&T were the top losers.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 2,326 stocks traded in green and 1,637 stocks in red. There was no change in 96 stocks.
The volatility index India (VIX) surged by 3.26 per cent to 15.66, indicating a rise in market volatility.
According to Jatin Trivedi of LKP Securities, Nifty remained volatile throughout the session due to a sudden spike in geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, causing the index to fall below its 200-day moving average (DMA) once again.
Experts said that due to rising geopolitical tensions and re-intensification of war between Russia and Ukraine, there is a selling situation in the market. With this, the pressure on the rupee has increased.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,403 crore on November 18, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 2,330 crore on the same day.