The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative. On the BSE, 1,581 shares declined and 1,246 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged.
Bank shares were the top gainers led by ICICI Bank.
An announcement has barred the entry of journalists in the finance ministry.
The 30-share Sensex stayed in the green for the better part of the session and hit the day's high of 38,297.70 as buying pace gathered momentum towards the fag-end.
Infosys was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 2.36 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank up 1.39 per cent.
The government on Wednesday allowed Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, a subsidiary of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, to set up 500 petrol stations
Buoyed by the proposed public offerings in six companies, including Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Gas Authority of India Ltd, the government on Tuesday set an ambitious target of mobilising Rs 16,000 crore
Gas Authority of India Ltd, the country's largest gas distributor, and Turkey's Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corp, will sign a pact to jointly build cross-country pipelines and gas retailing projects, India's junior oil minister said.\n\n\n\n
The Securities and Exchange Board of India is ready to relax some of the public issue norms to facilitate divestment of government stake in public sector undertakings
Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said on Thursday that early elections would help speed up the process of privatisation.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp has surpassed the Tatas in market capitalisation, with its market value of Rs 104,114.5 crore (Rs 1,041.14 billion) being more than that of all the 26 listed firms of the Tata Group.
Other than ITC, other laggards include PowerGrid, Infosys, M&M, NTPC, SBI, HDFC, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, TCS, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, ONGC, RIL, Asian Paint, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank.
Among Sensex constituents, HCL Tech suffered the most by diving 2.26 per cent, followed by HDFC shedding 2.10 per cent.
Confusion prevailed in the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday over a sudden rise in Oil and Natural Gas Corp share price to Rs 1,480, against the last close of Rs 1,256.95.\n\n
The official, who did not wish to be identified, said the government will wrap up the stake sale in HPCL by November.\n\n
The sentiment got support from better-than-expected earning results by select companies and continuous buying by domestic financial institutions.
The team of hunters was unhurt in the attack that happened in Guchak area of Panjgur, however, two vehicles of the convoy were damaged in the firing, police said.
India Inc has learnt to take risks and compete with global players to create wealth, industry experts said on Monday.
The government said on Saturday that the public offer of state-owned gas transmission company Gas Authority India Ltd would hit the market on February 27 followed by Oil and Natural Gas Corp public float on March 5.
Bajaj Auto's Rahul Bajaj, Sunil Mittal of Bharti and Oil and Natural Gas Corp's Subir Raha are among the 20 finalists announced by Ernst and Young for the E&Y Entreprenuer of the Year award.
The revival of the phytosanitary protocol with China is expected to boost tobacco exports to China and prove economically beneficial to Indian farmers.
To push ahead with the divestment of Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Gas Authority of India Ltd, the government is likely to appoint as many as five advisors for the public offer of shares of the two companies.
The FM should quietly get the oil companies to offload the shares in the market and pocket the gains
The government has nipped Oil and Natural Gas Corp's exclusive plans to extract liquid petroleum gas and C2/C3 from liquefied natural gas by also allowing gas utility GAIL India to do the same from the common LNG being imported by Petronet.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Govt plans to stop RIL from selling crude to Jamnagar refinery.
As the government began consultations with stakeholders on raising gas prices, gas producers and consumers met a committee of secretaries separately with their pleas on the issue.
Markets extended gains for the fourth consecutive day tracking gains in banks, capital goods and oil and gas majors.
Defending champions Border Security Force were shocked by Corps of Signals in the Beighton Cup hockey tournament.
Both teams easily won their quarter-final league matches in the 109th Beighton Cup hockey tournament.
Combined net profit estimated to grow 14.6% year-on-year, against a 5.7% decline in the Dec 2015 quarter
Coal India fell the most by 2.58 per cent among Sensex scrips, dragging the index into the negative zone.
Ahead of its public offer to dilute 10 per cent government stake, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp said on Wednesday that its net worth has risen to Rs 42,250 crore (Rs 422.5 billion) as on December 31
