The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty indexes came off intraday high levels in last hour of trade as heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra and Power Grid came under selling pressure. The Sensex which rose as much as 478 points and Nifty 50 index which touched an intraday high of 11,389 in noon deals gave up most of the gains but were trading with a positive bias. The benchmarks have been swinging in a wide range as investors remain on edge tracking the possible economic impact of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in the country, say analysts.
As of 2:47 pm, the Sensex traded 145 points or 0.4 per cent higher at 38,557 and the Nifty 50 index was up 0.4 per cent or 42 points at 11,293.
Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty PSU Bank, Pharma and FMCG indexes over 1 per cent gain.
On the other hand, Nifty Realty index was top loser, down 1 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares were witnessing a mild buying interest as the Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.5 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.3 per cent.
Yes Bank was top Nifty gainer the stock rose as much as 29 per cent to Rs 37.85 after Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed people with the knowledge of the matter, that the government has allowed State Bank of India to form a consortium to buy stake in troubled Yes Bank.
HCL Technologies, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Eicher Motors, Britannia Industries, Hindustan Unilever, UPL and Tata Consultancy Services were also among the gainers.
On the flipside, Zee Entertainment, Hindalco, Bharti Infratel, Reliance Industries, Grasim Industries, Indian Oil, Tech Mahndra, Cipla and ICICI Bank were also among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,012 shares were advancing while 769 were declining on the NSE.
