Mumbai– Despite volatility on account of weakened global sentiment, the Indian equity market ended on a positive note on Wednesday.

Segment-wise, metals, banking, realty and auto came under selling pressure, whereas, defensive sectors like pharma, FMCG and IT attracted investors.

Globally, an early boost to Asia’s emerging stock markets from Chinese economic data faded on Wednesday as a chaotic first US presidential debate weakened sentiment globally and traders reined in bets ahead of several regional market holidays.

Similarly, European stocks traded choppy and fell mildly on the last trading day of the month and the quarter.

The BSE Sensex closed at 38,067.93, up 94.71 points, or 0.25 per cent, from the previous close of 37,973.22.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 11,247.55, up by 25.15 points, or 0.04 per cent, from its previous close.

“An early boost to Asia’s emerging stock markets from Chinese economic data faded on Wednesday as a chaotic first US presidential debate weakened sentiment globally and traders reined in bets ahead of several regional market holidays,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

“Traders in India are cutting back on their exposures due to lacklustre markets. However, no big negative on the horizon means that there may not be a rush to the exit door in the near term.”

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services: “As expected, benchmark indices remained volatile throughout the day, fluctuating between losses and gains before finally ending the day flat.”

“Global cues were mostly negative, following caution over the outcome of US presidential elections and also because of rising virus cases around the world. Traders are advised caution as markets are expected to remain volatile.”

On his part, Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said: “Tomorrow, investors could react to couple of economic data-points that would get released this evening – China’s PMI data, UK’s GDP data and India’s ‘Fiscal Deficit’ and ‘Infrastructure Output’.” (IANS)