Indices end flat for 2nd day; ITC skids post results

Equity indices staged a smart recovery from intra-day lows to close flat for the second straight session on Wednesday as a spurt in market heavyweight RIL offset profit-booking in FMCG, finance and IT counters.

A continuously declining rupee also weighed on investor sentiment, traders said. After dropping to a low of 51,450.58 in late afternoon trade, the BSE Sensex clawed back lost ground to finish 85.40 points or 0.16 per cent down at 51,849.48.

The broader NSE Nifty inched up 1.35 points or 0.01 per cent to close at 15,576.20.

ITC was the biggest laggard among the Sensex constituents, tumbling 2.88 per cent, a day after the company reported a net profit of ~13,389.80 crore for FY21, as against ~15,584.56 crore in the previous fiscal.

Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, Kotak Bank, TCS, HCL Tech, HDFC and Bharti Airtel were among the other losers, shedding up to 1.20 per cent. On the other hand, Indusind Bank, Powergrid, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Auto and Maruti climbed as much as 1.81 per cent.

"Ahead of the MPC policy, domestic market continued its volatility with a mixed bias. Selling was witnessed in financials, IT and FMCG stocks but it reduced towards the close of trading," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. Weakness across US and Asian markets also added to the negative trend, he noted.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices rallied up to 1.75 per cent.