Indian Equity Benchmarks Close Flat After Early Highs; Banking Stocks Weigh on Sentiment

19 Mar 2024 , 10:33 AM

On February 23, Indian equity benchmarks concluded the session on a flat note after initially reaching new highs, as banking stocks faced selling pressure and investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the release of GDP numbers and other data.

The 30-stock Sensex surged to a fresh peak of 73,394.44 but relinquished its gains to close marginally lower by 0.02% at 73,142.80. Similarly, the broader Nifty also dipped by 0.02% to settle at 22,212.70 after touching a new high of 22,297.50 earlier in the session.

Key gainers on the Nifty included Bajaj Finserv, up by 1.5%, followed by SBI Life and HDFC Life, which advanced by 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively. Conversely, the top losers were Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, HCL Technologies, and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Media led the gains with a rise of 1.2%, followed by Nifty Realty and Nifty Consumer Durables, which gained 1% and 0.6%, respectively.

On the other hand, the Nifty PSU Bank index closed down by 1.1%, followed by Nifty IT, Nifty Bank, and Nifty Metals, all of which declined by 0.2% each.