Nifty holds on to 11,000-mark in volatile trade

After opening bullish, the session witnessed intense volatility as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley revised the fiscal deficit target upwards and imposed  long-term capital gains tax (LTCG) of 10 per cent on gains exceeding Rs 1,00,000 on sale of shares.

Selling was led by Pharma, PSU Bank, Energy, Realty and Media counters.

However, the focus on rural and agriculture sector offset the LTCG on equities, with key indices recovering most of the lost ground amid buying in infra, FMCG and auto stocks.

Overseas, most European shares were trading higher as investors reacted to a slew of corporate earnings. Asian shares settled on a mixed note.

The Nifty 50 index eased 10.80 points or 0.10 per cent to end at 11,016.90, its lowest closing level since January 22, 2018.

It hovered in a range of 11,117.35 and 10,878.80. It saw an intra-day movement of about 238.55 points.

On the sectoral front, Pharma fell by 2.41 per cent, followed by PSU Bank 2.30 per cent, Energy 1.31 per cent, Realty 0.81 per cent, Bank 0.58 per cent, Media 0.81 per cent, Finance Service 0.27 per cent and Private Bank 0.22 per cent.

On the other hand, FMCG rose by 0.83 per cent, Infra 0.79 per cent, Auto 0.70 per cent and Metal 0.14 per cent.

Major index gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Finance, L&T, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Auto.

Losers were Sun Pharma, ONGC, Dr Reddy's, Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin, SBI, ICICI Bank, Reliance and Tata Motors.

The market breadth, indicating its overall health, was in favour of the losers. On the NSE, 821 stocks advanced, 982 declined and 50 remained unchanged.

Total securities that hit their price bands were 205.

Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 41,637.97 crore from Rs 37,714.83 crore as on Wednesday.

A total of 17,550.88 lakh shares changed hands in 13,607,265 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on NSE stood at Rs 1,51,31,893.67 crore.