Sensex Slips 59 Points, Nifty Below 17,300 Amid High Volatility

New Delhi: The key benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday declined for the third straight session as investors continued to be on the edge due to ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Amid high volatility in the stock market, the 30-share BSE Sensex logged 57,833, down 59 points, while the NSE Nifty ended day’s trade at 17,276, down 28 points.

Both the indices fluctuated between gains and losses throughout the session before settling in the negative zone.

Midcap and smallcap shares finished on a negative note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.91 per cent and smallcap shares plunged 1.06 per cent.

11 out of the 15 sector gauges, compiled by the National Stock Exchange, settled in the red. Nifty Pharma, Nifty Auto, and Nifty IT underperformed the index by falling as much as 0.87 per cent, 0.63 per cent and 0.44 per cent, respectively.

ONGC was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 2.18 per cent to Rs 168. Divi’s Lab, Cipla, UltraTech Cement, and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) were also among the laggards.

In contrast, Coal India, SBI Life, Bajaj Auto, HDFC, and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) were among the gainers.

On the BSE, the overall market breadth stood weak as 1,170 shares advanced while 2,182 declined.

UltraTech Cement, M&M, Infosys, Reliance Industries, and Nestle India attracted the most losses with their shares sliding as much as 2.03 per cent on the BSE.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, "US stocks ended sharply lower on Thursday, as investors dealt with renewed fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine as the US and its allies accused Moscow of continuing to build up troop levels.”

Investors hastened a move late in the session towards defensive sectors and safe havens such as US bonds and gold, as geopolitical tensions between Washington and Russia over Ukraine flared, he added.

Other Asian markets witnessed selloffs as investors weighed renewed US warnings of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine.

Crude oil benchmark Brent Futures dropped 0.71 per cent to trade at $92.31 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,242.10 crore in the Indian capital markets on Thursday, exchange data showed.