Mumbai: Despite growing nervousness and uncertainty surrounding the US Fed policy meet outcome, a wave of relief buying supported by positive global cues helped the benchmark Nifty to rebound from three-week lows and close up by 43 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on September 17.
After two days of heavy losses, trading sentiment found some support on heightened speculation that the Federal Reserve would vow to maintain interest rates at low levels when the US central bank concludes its policy meet. Moreover, the Chinese central bank's move to provide liquidity to its major banks alongside a series of stimulus measures also boosted investor mood.
Tracking overnight record finish on Wall Street and firm Asian cues, the trading at NSE began on a strong footing on across-the-board buying. But the market lacked fuel to sustain the momentum and erased some gains towards the end. Financial markets across the globe came under intense sell-off in the last few days amid indications of a possible hike in US interest rates.
The 50-share Nifty spurted by 42.60 points, or 0.54 per cent, to conclude at 7,975.50 after scaling an intra-day high of 7,990.65 and a low of 7,936.95. Elsewhere in Asia, barring Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Shanghai index, rest all equities ended lower despite China's central bank decision to infuse liquidity into the country's top banks amid speculation over the US Fed's policy outcome.
The CNX Technology index, which surged 1.66 per cent, was among the day's best-performing sectoral indices followed by capital goods, FMCG, metal, healthcare and realty. Mid and small-cap stocks also gained. On the other hand, bank stocks dropped on sustained profit-taking. Infosys, TCS, Reliance, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's, HCL Tech, ITC, Wipro, Tata Steel, UltraTech, HeroMoto, ICIC Bank, BHEL, Tata Power, M&M, United Spirits and Cairn were among the most significant contributors to the index recovery.
Key laggards included Jindal Steel, BPCL, Coal India, Cipla, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Axis Bank and Grasim. However, the market breadth remained weak as declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 800 to 754. Turnover in the cash segment slumped to Rs 16,285.91 crore from Rs 19,317.55 crore on September 18. A total of 8,893.83 lakh shares changed hands in 78,49,562 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 92,07,634 crore.
