Domestic equity markets traded flat on Thursday afternoon, retreating from their fresh record highs as investor focus turned to corporate earnings. Trade sentiment turned cautious amid reports that the US-China trade deal may not ease tensions for long as numerous thorny issues remain unresolved.

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The 30-share S&P BSE Sensex traded 91 points up at 41,964, while the broader 50-share NSE Nifty50 was 21 points up at 12,367 at 2.15 pm. Earlier, the Sensex scaled the 42,000 mark for the first time ever, hitting 42,059 and the Nifty too touched a lifetime intra-day high of 12,389.

Discussing the technicals of Indian market with CNBCTV18, CLSA's Laurence Balanco said, "Nifty still looks positive and we have this trading range that we just managed to work above the top of the range and ultimately that breakout will gets us to 13,800 upside target.”

“In the short-term we are seeing some extended reading particularly coming from the US market. So, we can see some volatility into the backend of January but that weakness if materialises on US market and the Nifty back towards the 12,000 area — then that should be bought into looking forward to 13,800 as the next upside for the Nifty,” he added.

In Sensex pack, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid, Hindustan Unilever and Kotak Mahindra Bank were top gainers, rising by up to 3 percent. NTPC, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra and Axis Bank declined by up to 2 percent.

On the Nifty, Eicher Motors was leading, jumping 4 percent, while Vedanta, JSW Steel were other major laggards, falling by up to 2 percent.

Broader markets continue to outperform with the Nifty MidCap 100 index rising 0.69 percent, while the Nifty SmallCap 100 index also rose 0.60 percent.

Among sectors, Nifty Media rose almost a percent, but Metal index fell 1.4 percent. Other major gaining sectors were Realty, Pharma and FMCG.

Shares of pharma firm Wockhardt surged 14 percent in intra-day deals on Thursday after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved its two new antibiotics.

Cable television company DEN Networks Ltd jumped 5 percent to its highest since September 25, 2019 after reporting a profit for the December quarter, compared with a loss last year.

Shares of Sterlite Technologies plunged 7 percent as the company's consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December fell 67 percent to Rs 52.63 crore on a sequential basis.

Shares of Yes Bank gained as the private sector lender assured customers that its overall 'Capital Adequacy Ratio' is above regulatory requirements and that its operations are stable.

Meanwhile, Edelweiss said in a report that Indian companies raised Rs 1.25 lakh crore in 2019, the second-highest quantum of funds since CY05. Out of this, primary market issuance aggregated Rs 1 lakh crore versus Rs 66,400 crore in CY18.

In the currency market, the rupee quoted at 70.90 per US dollar at 1.03 pm. The home currency opened at 70.80 against the US dollar, up 2 paise from its Wednesday's close of 70.82 against the greenback. The 10-year government bond yield was at 6.64 per cent in morning trade.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 279.53 crore, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 648.34 crore on Wednesday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

First Published:Jan 16, 2020 2:21 PM IST