Indian equities market: D-Street shows resilience amid geopolitical tensions; Sensex, Nifty end marginally higher

Mumbai: Indian equities ended marginally up on Wednesday after swinging between gains and losses for most of the trading session, as investors took the uncertainty over the risks of a full-blown military conflict between India and Pakistan in their stride.

Sensex ended 105.71 points, or 0.13%, higher at 80,746.78. Nifty gained 34.80 points, or 0.14%, to close at 24,414.40.

Both indices had fallen by over 0.6% earlier in the day after Indian armed forces carried out strikes in Pakistan and PoK. Pakistan’s main stock index tumbled 3% after the attack.

“History shows geopolitical flare-ups typically trigger knee-jerk reactions in market, but it often recalibrates quickly,” said Vikram Kasat, head, advisory, PL Capital.

The Volatility Index, or VIX, moved up 0.3% to 19 Wednesday- the highest in a month-suggesting the risk perception among traders has not subsided.

Broader Market Ends Strong
The broader market ended stronger with the Mid-cap 150 index jumping 1.5% and the Small-cap 250 gaining 1.2%. Out of the 4,046 shares traded on the BSE, 2,099 advanced, while 1,800 declined.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,586 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought equities worth Rs 2,378 crore.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets mostly climbed after China’s central bank and financial regulators cut key interest rates and announced measures to pump liquidity into the system to revive growth in the wake of concerns over the impact of tariffs on its economy.

Talks between US and Chinese officials this week, in a bid to scale down the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, also eased nervous sentiment.

China gained 0.8% and Hong Kong rose 0.1% on Wednesday. South Korea climbed 0.6%, Indonesia rose 0.4%, and Taiwan advanced 0.1%.