The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes ended lower on Wednesday as banking, FMCG, metal and financial services shares came under selling pressure. Rising border tensions between India and China kept investors and traders on sideline, analysts said. The benchmarks opened higher but gave up gains as volatility creeped in. The Sensex moved in a range of 600 points and the Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 10,003.60 and a low of 9,833.80. India VIX, the gauge of expected volatility, rose 1.5 per cent to 33.47. The Sensex ended 97 points or 0.29 per cent lower at 33,507.92 and the Nifty 50 index fell 0.33 per cent or 33 points to close at 9,881.15.
Bharti Infratel was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 4.5 per cent to close at Rs 206. Kotak Mahindra Bank, ITC, Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, Shree Cements, Bajaj Finserv, Hindalco, Asian Paints, Vedanta and HDFC also fell between 1.5-2.3 per cent.
On the flipside, Maruti Suzuki was top gainer, the stock climbed 4 per cent to end at Rs 5,725. Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Britannia Industries, Axis Bank, UPL and IndusInd Bank were also among the gainers.
Financial services, banking and metal sector shares witnessed selling pressure. Six of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower by the Nifty Financial Service index's 0.8 per cent decline. Nifty Bank, FMCG, Metal, Private Bank and PSU Bank indexes also fell around 0.5 per cent.
On the other hand, media shared saw buying as the Nifty Media index was top gainer, up 1.7 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares ended higher as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.5 per cent.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,438 shares ended higher while 1,120 closed lower on the BSE.
