Sensex snaps 4-session slide amid firm global cues; IT stocks shine

Equity indices eked out modest gains on Thursday after a four-session losing streak, in tandem with an upmove in global markets despite a hawkish tilt by the US Federal Reserve.

A rebounding rupee also bolstered sentiment, though unabated selling by foreign institutional investors capped the upside, traders said.

After a choppy session, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 113.11 points or 0.20 per cent higher at 57,901.14. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty inched up 27 points or 0.16 per cent to 17,248.40.

Bajaj Finance led the Sensex gainers' chart with a jump of 2.61 per cent, followed by Infosys, Titan, Reliance Industries, HCL Tech, M&M and Nestle India.

In contrast, Maruti, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank and SBI were among the laggards, slipping up to 1.51 per cent.

"Domestic bourses closed flat with a mild positive bias despite an upbeat economic outlook by the US Fed. Domestic weakness was due to FII selling and moderation in retail activity," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"The Fed chair announced their decision to double the pace of asset tapering by early 2022 rather than a mid-2022 paving way for three interest rate hikes, backed by a rapidly strengthening economy and employment gains amid inflation concerns," he added.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking, said markets managed to end marginally higher amid volatility, taking a breather after the recent fall.

"As all the major events are over now, we feel the performance of the global markets would be critical in days to come. At the same time, we expect the buzz to continue in the primary market. Among the sectors, only the IT pack looks decisive to us while others are witnessing mixed trends," he said.

Sectorally, BSE IT, energy, tech, consumer durables and oil and gas indices climbed as much as 1.25 per cent, while power, utilities, realty and bankex nursed losses.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices underperformed the benchmarks to end up to 0.70 per cent lower.

Global markets followed Wall Street higher even as the Fed signalled an end to its pandemic-induced easy monetary policy amid inflation concerns.

The Fed said it will accelerate the tapering of its monthly bond buying from January itself, to be followed by rate hikes.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended with gains.

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a positive note in the afternoon session

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude firmed up 0.97 per cent to USD 74.60 per barrel.

The rupee recovered 23 paise to close at 76.09 against the US dollar on Thursday.

Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 3,407.04 crore on Wednesday, as per stock exchange data.