NewZNew (Mumbai) : Indian stock markets moved higher in early trade on Wednesday but gains were capped as investors remained skittish ahead of the derivatives expiry tomorrow.
Also, concerns over forthcoming fourth-quarter earnings season weighed on the sentiment. Also, markets have struggled amid fiscal-year-end profit-booking. In fact, also BSE Sensex and Nifty suffered losses in the previous five sessions.
Phani Sekhar, fund manager at Karvy Stock Broking, said that markets are eyeing the outlook from corporates when they come out with their fourth quarter numbers. If their outlook disappoints, markets could see a further correction, he added.
The Sensex was up 66 points at 28,228 while Nifty was higher at 8,564. Among sectors, selling pressure was seen in metal and oil and gas sectors while some defensive buying was witnessed in pharma and FMCG stocks.
Sun Pharma, which completed its $4 billion merger with Ranbaxy, rose 2 per cent while Dr Reddy’s Lab added nearly 1 per cent. Selective buying was seen in banking stocks with ICICI Bank and HDFC rising nearly 0.50 per cent. Tata Motors was the biggest gainer among Nifty stocks, rising 2.2 per cent. Among losers, GAIL, NMDC, and NTPC were down between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent.