Nifty ends down after climbing fresh 2016 high

The benchmark Nifty ended marginally lower today after climbing to its highest level this year in highly volatile trade following bouts of selling in select heavyweights at the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The 50-share index commenced higher at 7,953.65 and fluctuated between a high of 7,978.45 and a low of 7,884.10 before ending at 7,912.05, revealing a modest fall of 2.70 points, or 0.03 per cent.
Technology, realty and FMCG stocks were the hardest hit. However, banking counters witnessed heavy buying spree which largely helped the key index to rebound sharply from its day's low.
After a strong start tracking buoyant global trend, the key Nifty index soon hit its 2016 high -- crossing the January 1 level of 7,972 on heavy buying support across the board.

But bourses succumbed to heavy profit-taking at higher levels amid investor caution, surrendering entire gains to trade in deep red before recouping most of the losses towards the tail-end session.
Meanwhile, Asian equities staged a significant turn around and ended firmly higher following a robust rally across the spectrum of commodities, with Japan's Nikkei surging by 2.70 per cent and Hang Seng over 2 per cent along with other key indices.

European bourses, on the other hand, were trading lower.
Benchmark crude oil climbed to a five-month high of USD 45.96 per barrel after US data showed a sharp fall in output.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty IT was the top laggard which shed a hefty 1.89 per cent weighed down by index heavyweights despite better-than-expected Q4 earnings.
It was followed by realty (1.92 per cent), infra (1.23 per cent), FMCG (0.89 per cent) and auto (0.48 per cent).
The mid-cap and small-cap also ended lower by 0.75 and 0.39 per cent, respectively.
PSU Bank shot-up (3.15 per cent), Nifty Bank (1.48 per cent) and Nifty Private Bank (1.43 per cent) along with pharma and metal.
In individual stocks, Infosys, Wipro, ITC, Bharti Infratel, TCS, HDFC Bank, L&T, UltraTech, Adani Ports, M&M, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto were the key losers.

Notable gainers included ICICI Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, HDFC, Reliance, ONGC, Coal India, Bank of Baroda and Maruti.
Turnover in cash segment was modestly higher at Rs 20,564.12 crore against Rs 20,538.01 crore yesterday.
A total of 10,850.31 lakh shares changed hands in 85,62,943 trades. The market capitalisation of the NSE stood at Rs 95,74,613 crore.