Sensex, Nifty End Little Changed Ahead Of Fed Chair's Speech

(RTTNews) - Indian shares fluctuated before finishing on a flat note Friday as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's eagerly anticipated Jackson Hole speech later in the day that could offer fresh insights on the central bank's interest rate cuts plans this year.

Powell may probably use the speech to prepare markets for a modest 25-bps rate cut in September, which is entirely priced in by markets.

Middle East tensions also remained on investors' radar as fighting raged on the ground in parts of Palestinian territory despite increased efforts by the U.S. to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex ended the session up 33.02 points, or 0.04 percent, at 81,086.21 while the broader NSE Nifty index settled up 11.65 points, or 0.05 percent, at 24,823.15.

Bajaj Auto shares jumped 4.7 percent after the company became the first automotive (auto) original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to receive a domestic value addition (DVA) certificate for all 15 electric models.

Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and Coal India rose 1-2 percent while Titan Company, Asian Paints, ONGC, Wipro and LTIMindtree all fell around 1 percent.