Indices close flat with marginal gains; Pharma sheds; Cons Durable gains

Investors remained cautious as they await HCL Tech’s quarterly result today.

The IT sector has been experiencing a downside after TCS and Infosys failed to meet market estimates and an overall negative outlook.

Global cues have also been negative as the banking sector continues to experience the aftereffects of the SVB collapse.

Indices remained flat most of the trading as Sensex climbed 65 points and Nifty 7 points in today’s session

The key indices of the equity domestic market were volatile in today’s trading and ended with minor gains tracking weak global cues.

The investors are keeping a wait-and-watch mode as the majority of the corporate earnings announced till now are below markets’ expectations.

BSE Sensex ended 65 points up to close at 59,632 and NSE Nifty climbed 5 points to end at 17,624. Eight of the 15 Nifty sectoral indices ended in the red on Thursday.

Pharma and Healthcare sectors struggled in today’s session as they shed around a per cent. Metal and FMCG also ended in the red with noticeable drops. Consumer Durable made minor gains.

NTPC, Adani Ports, Asian Paints and Bajaj Auto were among the top gainers. Divi’s Labs shed 4% in today’s trading. Hindustan Unilever, Eicher Motors and Dr Reddy’s fell by more than a per cent each.

Shares are mostly lower in Asia in narrow trading after they barely budged on Wall Street following a mixed batch of earnings reports from big US companies.

Japan’s Nikkei share average rose clawing back losses from the previous day as retailers surged from an increase in foreign visitors and semiconductor shares rebounded from early declines.

The Nikkei added 0.18% putting it not far from Tuesday’s nearly six-week high.

Chinese stocks fell, although information technology shares shot up, as uneven economic recovery after this year’s re-opening from stringent COVID curbs muted market sentiment.

Hong Kong shares gained marginally.

China’s blue-chip CSI 300 Index closed down 0.3%, while the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.1%.

The Hang Seng Index and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index both edged up 0.1%.

European shares edged lower as investors awaited more economic data from the eurozone and corporate results to assess the strength of the region.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index slipped on Thursday, tracking weakness in oil and mining stocks as commodity prices fell amid concerns over further rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve.