Sensex slips 76 pts, Nifty falls to 19,977; midcap, smallcap indices down over 0.7%

Domestic equities opened little changed on Wednesday, as the benchmark indices witnessed profit-taking at near-record high levels after positive macroeconomic data. The Nifty50 index slipped 0.02 per cent at 19,989.50 at the open, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.05 per cent to 67,188.64.

By 9.30 am, Sensex was trading 76 points, or 0.11 per cent higher at 67,145.13, while Nifty50 was down 15.95 points, or 0.08 per cent to 19,977.25.

Barring India Vix, all broader market indices dragged in the opening session, as Nifty Midcap 100 slipped 0.72 per cent, Nifty Midcap 150 fell 0.69 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 50 fell 0.66 per cent, and Nifty Midcap Select tanked 0.53 per cent.

Sectorally, Nifty Realty fell 0.86 per cent, the IT index slipped 0.67 per cent, Nifty Auto fell 0.51 per cent, and Nifty Private Bank slipped 0.46 per cent. Meanwhile, Nifty Media gained 0.29 per cent, the FMCG index jumped 0.24 per cent, and the oil & gas sector rose 0.18 per cent.

HCL Tech, TCS, HDFC Life, Asian Paints, Wipro, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Adani Ports were the biggest laggards in the key indices. Meanwhile, Power Grid, Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma, BPCL, ONGC, M&M and Tata Motors were the top gainers.