Sensex ends 110 pts lower, Nifty below 16,250; Ruchi Soya zooms 10% 

Benchmark indices pared all early gains in highly choppy trade on Wednesday. The 30-share BSE benchmark settled 109.94 points or 0.20% lower at 54,208.53 and the broader NSE Nifty dipped 19 points or 0.12% to finish at 16,240.30. 

PowerGrid, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, NTPC and HCL Technologies were the biggest laggards on Sensex. 

UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, ITC and Axis Bank were among the gainers. 

"In the daily chart Nifty has ended with a bearish candle. However, 16,200 levels are protected throughout the day. Index might face high volatility on weekly expiry day. Riding against the trend may not be beneficial for short term traders," said Om Mehra, research associate, Choice Broking. 

"According to volume profile, 16,100 and 16,000 may act as immediate support. Indicators such as MACD and RSI are still struggling to overcome from the oversold zone in the daily time frame. From the time cycle prospect Index would remain highly volatile till 27th May of this month. Bollinger band indicates 16,650 would remain strong resistance in the coming days. On the other hand, Bank nifty has support at 33,400 levels while resistance at 35000 levels," he added. 

"On the technical front, the key resistance levels for Nifty50 are 16,500 and on the downside 16,000 can act as strong support. Key resistance and support levels for Bank Nifty are 34,800 and 33,500 respectively," pointed Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities. 

"With the support from Pharma and FMCG stocks, the domestic market had a steady run until the weak opening of the European market. UK's soaring retail inflation number along with Fed Chair's reassurance on bringing down the inflation, disturbed the sentiment, risking sharper rate hikes," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. 

Markets in Asia settled on a mixed note, with Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo ending in the green, while Shanghai was lower. 

Equity exchanges in Europe were also trading on a mixed note in the afternoon session. 

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 1.13 per cent to $113.2 per barrel.

(With inputs from PTI)