Sensex, Nifty end lower after roller coaster session

Key equity benchmarks erased intraday gains and ended with losses amid high volatility. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 145.83 points or 0.41% to 35,352.61, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index fell 36.60 points or 0.34% to 10,604.35, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty reversed gains after touching 10,700 mark in mid-afternoon trade.

The indices opened higher and extended gains in early trade. After hitting fresh intraday high in morning trade, indices pared gains in mid-morning trade. Benchmarks firmed up once again and hit fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade. Steep selling pressure in late trade dragged indices in negative terrain.

Broader market outperformed the main stock indices. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.51%. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.33%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1360 shares rose and 1187 shares fell. A total of 126 shares were unchanged.

IndusInd Bank (down 2.45%), NTPC (down 2.34%), Infosys (down 2.1%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.36%), HDFC (down 1.31%) and Bajaj Auto (down 0.81%), were the major Sensex losers.

Vedanta (up 3.38%), Larsen & Toubro (up 1.51%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.50%), ONGC (up 1.35%), ICICI Bank (up 1.23%) and State Bank of India (up 0.96%), were the major Sensex gainers.

IT major TCS fell 3.52%. The company announced during trading hours today, 19 February 2019, a partnership with Nanoheal, a predictive workspace automation platform provider, to offer enterprises cognitive, self-healing end-user device management solutions.

On the economic front, the central board of the Reserve Bank of India on Monday, 18 February 2019, decided to transfer an interim surplus of Rs 28,000 crore to the central government for the half-year ended 31 December 2018. This is the second successive year that RBI will be transferring an interim surplus.

In a separate notification, RBI said that based on an assessment of prevailing liquidity conditions and also of the durable liquidity needs going forward, it has decided to conduct purchase of the following Government securities under open market operations for an aggregate amount of Rs 12,500 crore on Thursday, 21 February 2019, through multi-security auction using the multiple price method.

Overseas, European shares declined while Asian shares settled mixed as market participants anxiously waited for details from the latest round of US-China trade talks.

The White House reportedly said on Monday that trade talks between the two economic powerhouses will continue in Washington on Tuesday, with higher level negotiations starting later in the week.

US stock market was shut on Monday for a public holiday.

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