MUMBAI: Select buying in index heavyweights by domestic institutions helped benchmarks pull back from the day’s lows but midcaps and smallcaps co
ntinued to remain under pressure.
At 3:20 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was down 484.66 points or 4.14 per cent at 11,210.58. The index recovered 470 points from its day’s low of 10,740.76.
The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 3477.20, down 3.59 per cent or 129.40 points. The broader index touched a low of 3329.45 in trade so far.
Meanwhile, gold prices rallied to an all-time high of Rs 13,745 in early trade on the bullion market on hectic stockists buying prompted by higher global advices as well as festival demand.
In the domestic market, standard gold (99.5 purity) firmed up by Rs 275 per ten grams to resume at Rs 13,745 from Tuesday’s closing level of Rs 13,470 and pure gold (99.9 purity) also hardened to Rs 13,810 from Rs 13,535.
Gold was trading at USD 887.90 an ounce, up USD 1.30 from New York's notional close on Tuesday. Silver ready (.999 fineness) also jumped to Rs 19,940 from Rs 19,685 on Tuesday.
Shares of Ranbaxy Laboratories reversed losses to surge 5.66 per cent on media reports the US Department of Justice had withdrawn a motion against the drugmaker, which was being probed for allegedly bringing adulterated and misbranded medications into the US.
Tata Power (2.36%), Mahindra & Mahindra (0.42%) and DLF (0.21%) were the other gainers in the 30-share index.
Wipro (-9.85%), Jaiprakash Associates (-9.11%), Satyam Computer (-8.22%), Sterlite Industries (-7.31%) and ICICI Bank (-7.05%) were under pressure.
