Indian shares closed largely unchanged on Wednesday as weak global data hurt sentiment, while investors awaited positive cues from the Union budget due later this week.

Share Market Live

NSE

The Indian government is set to turn on the fiscal taps in the budget and revise its borrowing target slightly higher for this year and next, prompted by a slowing economy and weak jobs growth.

The broader NSE Nifty closed 0.05 percent higher at 11,916.75, while the benchmark BSE Sensex settled 0.06 percent firmer at 39,839.25.

Broader market indices were better with the Nifty MidCap outperforming frontline indices, settling 0.39 percent up. Bank Nifty gained 0.32 percent. Nifty PSU Banks was the best performer among 31 advancing sectors, while Nifty IT slipped the most among 12 falling sectoral gauges.

Indiabulls Housing, IndusInd Bank, ITC, Zee Entertainment and Grasim Industries were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers were Eicher Motors, GAIL, Tech Mahindra, Vedanta and Dr. Reddy’s Labs.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack included IndusInd Bank, ITC, L&T, M&M, PowerGrid, Asian Paints and SBI, ending up to 3.79 per cent higher.

On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Vedanta, Infosys, Yes Bank, Tata Motors, TCS, HCL Tech and Maruti were the top losers, shedding up to 1.44 per cent.

Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd closing 7.6 percent higher while Indusind Bank Ltd ending the day 3.8 percent higher.

Overseas, equity markets turned jittery amid fears of an economic slowdown on weakening global manufacturing growth.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a negative note, while equity markets in Europe were trading in the green in their respective early sessions.

Besides being cautious ahead of the Union Budget, scheduled for Friday, investors turned wary after data showed that the country's services sector activity in June contracted for the first time since May 2018.

The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index fell to 49.6 in June, down from 50.2 in May, as broadly stagnant sales caused the first drop in business activity in over a year.

-with inputs from agencies

First Published:Jul 3, 2019 4:18 PM IST