Nifty down 24 points as investors show caution; bank shares up

Mumbai: Heightened volatility continued to sway market direction for the fourth straight session with the benchmark Nifty falling by 24 points on the NSE here, despite stronger-than-expected earnings outcome.

Sentiment remained fragile in the face of the current global market turmoil and ongoing corporate earnings season even as investors opted to stay on the sidelines ahead of Federal Reserve's policy meet outcome, which is coincided with the F&O July month expiry on Thursday.

Regulatory concerns raised by the government related to Participatory Notes and fears of foreign money leaving Indian shores also weighed on trade. After trading in positive zone largely for better part of the day, key indices succumbed to bout of selling pressure towards the tail end trade, though some low level buying support in key frontline stocks limited the slide.

Elsewhere, barring the Hang Seng index, which bucked the downtrend to rise 0.6 percent, most Asian equities ended modestly lower with Shanghai witnessing another round of heavy volatility a day after its biggest one-day loss in more than eight years.

Meanwhile, European equities are trading firmly higher amid caution ahead of the much-awaited talks to complete a third bailout program between Greece and its creditors. The broader 50-share Nifty swung between a high of 8,397.40 and a low of 8,321.75 before ending at 8,337, a loss of 24 points, or 0.29 per cent.

On the sectoral front, realty, healthcare, metal, media, tech and auto remained under selling pressure alongwith broader markets indices, while banking, energy, infra and fmcg saw modest rebound.

Major losers were HDFC, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, IDEA, Dr reddys' Heromotoco, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints and Infosys. Key gainers included HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra, L&T, Axis Bank, Reliance, BHEL, Indusind Bank, NTPC, PNB, HUL and TCS. Turnover in the cash segment jumped to Rs 18,178.43 crore compared to Rs 16,417.44 crore on July 27.

A total of 8,734.02 lakh shares changed hands in 84,16,622 trades and the total market capitalisation of Nifty stood at Rs 99,26,334 crore.