Stock Market Today Highlights: Indian stock market benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty 50, pared early gains to turn flat on Thursday, February 27 amid increased caution ahead of the US–Iran nuclear talks, as well as key data releases including US initial jobless claims and India’s GDP print, which triggered profit booking.
Sensex ended 27.46 points or 0.03% lower at 82,248.61 wile the broader Nifty 50 added 14.05 points or 0.06% to settle at 25,496.55.
Nifty Pharma, Nifty Auto and Nifty PSU Banks were the top sectoral gainers. IT stocks also pared early morning rally but remained in the green. IT stocks were the top gainers after AI chipmaker Nvidia posted stromng earnings for the December quarter. Nifty IT index rose 2% but later pared gains to trade around 0.3% higher. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Bank, Nifty Fin Services were all down around half a percent each.
In intra-day deals, Sensex cracked 608.69 points to day’s low of 81,970.47 from its intra-day high of 82,579.16 while Nifty also fell around 0.7% from its day’s high to its low of 25,400.95.
Meanwhile, global equity markets traded mixed on Thursday. The Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed, while US equity futures were under mild pressure, with S&P 500 futures down 0.1%, Nasdaq 100 futures slipping 0.1%, and futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.2%. In Asia, sentiment was relatively stronger, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rising 0.7%, while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index advanced 0.4%.
In early deals, Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed to a fresh record on Thursday, February 26, supported by what market participants described as the ‘Takaichi trade’. The Nikkei 225 jumped 1.1% to an all-time high of 59,199.31, marking its third straight session of record closes. The broader Topix index also rallied sharply, rising 1.45% to hit a new peak.
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