Early on Thursday, equity benchmark indices saw increases; however, as profit-taking became apparent amid the planned monthly derivatives expiry and a subdued trend in US markets, the indexes gave up all of their gains and began to quote lower.
Sensex companies that had significant gains were UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Larsen & Toubro.
NTPC, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, and Tata Motors were a few of the underachievers.
In the Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo quoted down, while Shanghai and Hong Kong traded positively.
On Wednesday, the US markets finished mostly down.
The gains could be limited, according to Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd., in his pre-opening market commentary, if the US markets experience overnight weakness and the ensuing decline in Asian indexes.
“As traders square off their positions on the monthly expiry day today, intra-day volatility could be seen,” he stated.
The benchmark for global oil, Brent crude, fell 0.18 percent to USD 82.95 a barrel.
According to exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased stocks on Wednesday for a total of Rs 71.91 crore.
On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark increased by 727.71 points, or 1.10 percent, to close at 66,901.91. After more than two months, the Nifty increased 206.90 points, or 1.04 percent, to retake the 20,000-mark. The time was 20:096.60.