Market

Sensex, Nifty erase gains, trade flat; Axis Bank, ICICI Bank top gainers

Updated : January 30, 2019 01:02 PM IST

Shares of non-banking financial companies traded under pressure, dragged by DHFL as management clarification failed to reassure investors

Sensex, Nifty erase gains, trade flat; Axis Bank, ICICI Bank top gainers

Indian shares gave up all morning gains and traded flat in the afternoon session on Wednesday as HDFC, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank and ITC weighed down the benchmark indexes BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50. Investors remained cautious ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting and US-China trade talks along with Friday's interim budget where the Narendra Modi government could announce populist measures, particularly farm loan waiver scheme.

The Sensex traded 28 points up at 35,620 at 12.40 pm, while the Nifty was down 9 points at 10,643. Broader markets slipped into the negative territory with the Nifty MidCap trading mildly lower and the BSE MidCap falling 0.21 percent. Shares of non-banking financial companies traded under pressure, dragged by DHFL as management clarification failed to reassure investors.

Axis Bank was the biggest gainer on both the indices, rallying over 6 percent after the third-largest private sector bank on Tuesday reported a 131 percent surge in the December-quarter net income to Rs 1,681 crore, boosted by a huge jump in recoveries from written-off accounts.

ICICI Bank shares rallied 4 percent ahead of its quarterly results, scheduled to be released later in the day.

Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, HCL Tech were other major gainers, rising between 2.5 and 3.5 percent.

Indiabulls Housing Finance continued its downtrend, falling 4 percent. Bharti Infratel, HPCL, JSW Steel, Indian Oil, HDFC, Asian Paints, ITC and HDFC Bank were other major losers, falling between a percent and 3.5 percent.

The rupee traded at 71.26 against the US dollar after opening at 71.38. The currency had settled at 71.11 on Wednesday.

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