The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their four-day losing streak led by gains in Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan and HCL Technologies.
For most part of the day, the benchmarks fluctuated between gains and losses owing to minor volatility due to weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts.
The Sensex traded in range of 650 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 17,379.35 and low of 17,195.The Sensex ended 113 points higher at 57,901 and Nifty 50 index advanced 27 points to end at 17,248."After witnessing momentum breakdown in November Nifty has managed to form an important support at 16,600 levels.
Volatility continues to remain elevated due to global factors.
Currently markets are hovering around critical support levels and provide a good risk-reward opportunity.
As long as 16,600 is held, there are high chances of the index testing 19,000 odd levels; failure would have meaningful negative implications," said Sahaj Agrawal, head of derivatives research at Kotak Securities.Twelve of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Media index's nearly 2 per cent decline.
Nifty Pharma, Private Bank, Realty, Healthcare, Auto, Bank and FMCG indices also fell between 0.5-0.8 per cent.On the other hand, IT, Oil - Gas and Consumer Durables indices closed higher.Mid- and small-cap shares underperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.69 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.83 per cent.Hindalco was top Nifty loser, the stock fell nearly 2 per cent to close at Rs 450.
Cipla, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Eicher Motors, IndusInd Bank, UPL, SBI Life and State Bank of India also fell between 0.6-1.5 per cent.On the flipside, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Bharat Petroleum, Wipro, Reliance Industries, Titan and HCL Technologies were among the top Nifty gainers.The overall market breadth was negative as 1,843 shares ended lower while 1,508 closed higher on the BSE.