MARKET WRAP: Sensex ends flat at 44,633; Maruti up 7%, HDFC Bank slips 2%

The benchmark indices ended with meagre gains on Thursday after scaling record high in the opening deals. The S&P BSE Sensex ended 15 points, or 0.03 per cent higher at 44,633 levels while NSE's Nifty settled at 13,134, up 20 points, or 0.15 per cent.

India VIX, the volatility index, dropped 4.5 per cent to 19 levels. 

HDFC Bank (down 2 per cent) ended as the biggest loser on Sensex after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered the bank to halt digital launches and new credit cards. 

On the other hand, auto major Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) emerged as the top gainer (up over 7 per cent). The stock also hit a 52-week high of Rs 7,777 during the day, before settling at Rs 7,740 on the BSE. 

The broader market continued to outperform the frontline indices. The S&P BSE MidCap index gained 0.85 per cent to 17,313 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index settled at 17,246, up 0.68 per cent. 

Sectorally, PSU bank stocks rallied in the trade with the Nifty PSU Bank index surging nearly 5 per cent to 1,673 levels. SBI ended around 4 per cent higher at Rs 256.40 on the NSE after global brokerage firm CLSA increased the target price to Rs 360. 

Global markets

China stocks edged lower on Thursday after the US House of Representatives passed a bill that threatened to delist Chinese companies off US stock exchanges, a move likely to further ratchet up tensions between Washington and Beijing.

In Europe, shares made lacklustre moves in the early deals, awaiting more signals from Brexit negotiators, while tracking progress in stimulus measures and vaccines as economies still reeled from the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In commodities, oil prices rose as producers including Saudi Arabia and Russia locked horns over the need to extend record production cuts set in place in the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

(With inputs from Reuters)