Indian benchmark indices ended on a mixed note on Wednesday, August 5, after a volatile trading session that saw markets swing between gains and losses following the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy announcement.
The BSE Sensex settled 152.05 points, or 0.19%, higher at 78,581.00, recovering from intraday lows after opening above the 79,000 mark. The index had touched an intraday high of 79,055.38 and a low of 78,285.74.
The Nifty 50 ended at 24,624.65, up 9.75 points or 0.04%. At the end of the normal trading session at 3:15 pm, the index stood at 24,570.20, down 44.70 points or 0.18%.
The closing auction lifted the official closing level by about 54 points to 24,624.65, a much smaller move than Monday’s surge of more than 200 points and Tuesday’s jump of around 150 points under the new settlement framework.
Unlike the previous two trading sessions, the new Closing Auction Session (CAS) had only a limited impact on benchmark levels, with the gap between the 3:15 pm market close and the final closing price narrowing significantly.
The RBI earlier in the day kept the benchmark repo rate unchanged at 5.25% while retaining its ‘neutral’ policy stance. Markets initially rallied after the announcement, gave up gains during afternoon trade, and then recovered into the close.
Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks. The Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.59%, the Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.17%, while the Nifty 500 added 0.17%. The India VIX declined 2.07% to 11.94, indicating easing volatility compared with the previous session.
Sectorally, buying was seen in Nifty Metal, which climbed 1.68%, followed by Nifty Auto (1.28%), Nifty Realty (0.85%) and Nifty PSU Bank (0.73%). On the other hand, Nifty Media fell 1.71%, while Nifty Private Bank, Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Healthcare ended in the red.
Among Sensex stocks, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, SBI, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro led the gains. TCS, HCLTech, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were among the major laggards.
The third day of Sebi’s revised closing auction mechanism was notably calmer than the previous two sessions. While the closing auction once again altered the benchmark’s final settlement level, the adjustment was relatively modest, suggesting that market participants may be gradually adapting to the new settlement process after the sharp dislocations witnessed on Monday and Tuesday.