Market ends with gain for second straight day

Mumbai: The equities market ended on Wednesday with a marginal gain for the second consecutive day amidst extreme volatility.

Strong global cues triggered a gaining rally in early trade.

However, profit booking by investors erased most of the early gains and by afternoon, the market turned flat but ended the day in the positive zone.

The 30-share benchmark of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index (Sensex), which opened at 15,263.65 points, touched a high of 15,422.82 before closing at 15,073.54. It went up by 112.47 points or 0.75 percent at the day's close.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P Nifty, which opened at 4,506.25 points, closed at 4,517.55 points. It went up 14.7 points or 0.33 percent.

The BSE Midcap index, which closed at 5,855.42 points, went up 11.54 points or 0.2 percent.

BSE Smallcap index, which closed at 7,144.13 points, went down 48.66 points or 0.68 percent.

The market breadth was negative. On BSE, 1,266 shares advanced, 1,444 declined and 76 maintained the status quo.

The top gainers of the day included Maruti Suzuki which at Rs.614.40 went up by 6.25 percent, Tata Motors at Rs.409.05 gained 4.31 percent, and Bharti Airtel at Rs.839.60 surged 3.59 percent.

The top losers of the day included Tata Steel, which at Rs.675.95 lost 4.48 percent, Tata Power at Rs1,101.35 lost 3.65 percent, State Bank of India at Rs.1578.80 lost 3.49 percent.