Indian shares closed Wednesday's trade with gains, but benchmark equity indices settled off intra-day highs. Trade sentiment turned positive on the back of strong inflow of foreign funds and earnings optimism amid positive global cues, especially on the US-China trade war front.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are in the process of resolving the issues faced by the real estate sector aided positivity.
The benchmark 30-share S&P BSE Sensex ended with gains of over 221 points at 40,469, after hitting an all-time high of nearly 40,607. The broader NSE Nifty50 also closed 43.85 points higher at 11966, after reclaiming the 12,000 level for the first time since June 11.
The Nifty MidCap index under-performed, ending mildly in the red. The Nifty Bank surged 1.29 percent, while IT, finance, pharma, FMCG and metal were other notable gaining sectors. Consumer durables, oil and gas, PSU sectors declined.
ICICI Bank, Infosys and HDFC were the top gainers while YES Bank, Bajaj Finance and Titan Company were the most active stocks.
Titan's shares settled over 10 percent lower on Wednesday after the Tata Group company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the quarter ended September. Investor sentiment was further dented with Titan reducing its jewellery sales growth guidance to 11-13 percent for the next two quarters from 20 percent earlier.
Nifty Realty index surged nearly 3 percent in intra-day trade on Wednesday anticipating government measures to boost demand in the sector. All 10 stocks in the index advanced with shares of Sobha, Prestige, Indiabulls Real Estate, and Godrej Property rising between 3 and 5.5 percent. DLF shares surged 2.5 percent.
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