Indian shares ended lower on Wednesday as investors booked profits in index heavyweight Reliance Industries after an eight-day rally, while the IT sector added to the losses.

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The Sensex ended 422 points lower at 38,071 while the Nifty lost 98 points to settle at 11,203.

However, Asian shares rose, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gaining 0.3 percent, ahead of a key meeting by the US Federal Reserve. The Fed’s announcement that it would extend several of its lending facilities through the year-end added to investor anticipation of a particularly dovish tone.

Oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries was the top loser on both the indices, down 4 percent after eight days of gains, that pushed the company’s market capitalization to more than Rs 13 lakh crore.

Reliance dragged the Nifty energy index down nearly 1.6 percent, with refiner HPCL and BPCL also falling 2 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

FMCG major Nestle also lost 2.5 percent after the company’s June quarter earnings missed analysts' expectations and CLSA downgraded the stock to 'sell'.

M&M, HCL Tech and Hero Moto were the other top losers on the Nifty50 index, down over 2 percent each.

Meanwhile, Dr Reddy's, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Grasim, and Bharti Infratel were the top gainers on the index.

Dr Reddy's rose over 6 percent after it reported a net profit of Rs 579 crore in the quarter ended June 2020, beating CNBC-TV18 analysts' estimates of Rs 513 crore. However, net profit was down 13 percent as compared to Rs 663 crore in the year-ago quarter.

IndusInd Bank also added 4.5 percent despite reporting weak results for the June quarter as brokerages maintained a bullish view on the stock.

Among sectors, Nifty Auto fell the most, down 1.2 percent followed by Nifty IT, down 0.9 percent. Nifty Fin Services also lost 0.6 percent for the day. However, the pharma index surged over 3 percent and Nifty Metal rose 0.9 percent.

First Published:Jul 29, 2020 3:36 PM IST