The Sensex and the Nifty wiped out early gains to end flat on Wednesday as investors booked profits in heavyweights, seen in HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Finserv.

Sensex closed 34.09 points or 0.05% higher at 72,152, and the Nifty shut shop 1.10 points or 0.01% up at 21,930. About 1,927 shares advanced, 1,329 declined, and 75 remained unchanged.

Bank Nifty closed in the green after falling for three consecutive days.

Following positive cues from overnight US markets, tracking Asian peers, and the most recent return of foreign portfolio investors, the benchmark equity indices opened slightly higher on Wednesday’s session.

Notably, the players are waiting for the RBI’s monetary policy outcome on Thursday for directional cues.

Analysts believe that although the RBI is expected to maintain a status quo, its commentary would be closely observed for the rate cut trajectory.

BSE MidCap outperformed, jumping over a per cent while the BSE SmallCap index was up nearly half a per cent.

SBI, JSW Steel, HDFC Life, Grasim, Bajaj Finance, Hindalco, Asian Paints, Ultratech Cement, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, and Nestle India were the lead winners on the benchmarks, up between 1.5% and 4%.

On the downside, Infosys, Power Grid Tech M, Adani Ports, BPCL, and TCS fell over 1% each.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index gained over 1.48% while the BSE SmallCap index advanced 0.35%.

Among sectors, all but the Nifty IT index gained, led by the Nifty PSU Bank index (up 3.49%), followed by the Nifty Realty index (1.4%), and the Nifty Media index (1.37%).

Nifty has been trading in a narrow range on the daily charts for the past couple of weeks.

On the upside, 22,000 to 22,050 is acting as a stiff resistance while the key hourly moving averages placed in the range 21,800 to 21,900 have been absorbing all the selling pressure.

The global shares also hit their highest in over a year on Wednesday. The rally was supported by relatively robust earnings and a retreat in the dollar, although trouble among US regional banks and scepticism over China’s efforts to support its markets made for cautious trading.

Bonds gained some respite after an aggressive sell-off that spilled into the early part of this week, following comments from Federal Reserve officials that did little to shift expectations for the outlook for monetary policy.

The MSCI All-World index rose 0.1% to reach its highest since mid-January 2023, led in part by a rally in Chinese blue-chips, which have gained almost 5% in the last two trading days alone.

In Europe, stocks were mostly flat in an earnings-heavy day as a lift from consumer discretionaries such as LVMH was offset by a drop in shares of pharmaceutical companies. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were down 0.1%.

China stocks extended their rally as investors awaited more substantial market rescue measures after Beijing signalled that it was ramping up efforts to support its sagging markets.