Stock Market: Sensex Sinks 194 Points, Nifty Settles Below 18,500 On Selling Pressure

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Airtel, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, ITC, Reliance, HDFC Bank settled in the red

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index ended flat, while Smallcap index added 0.6 per cent.

Source : Getty

The key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday closed in the negative zone following a lacklustre performance for the major part of the trading session, mostly due to fag-end selling pressure. The S&P BSE Sensex, which, had touched a high of 62,762, finally ended with a loss of 194 points at 62,429. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty gave-up the 18,500 level in late trades, and settled at 18,488, down 47 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Airtel, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, ITC, Reliance, HDFC Bank settled in the red. On the flipside, Tata Motors, HUL, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, TCS, Nestle emerged winners.

#ABPLiveStockMarketWatch | Indian equity benchmarks closed in red on Thursday due to late-hour selling pressure

At 03:30 PM, #Sensex sheds 194 points to 62,428 & #Nifty down 47 points to close at 18,488

Here's a look at the stocks in focus#ClosingBell #ABPLive #MarketWatch pic.twitter.com/IY4Dj7mRuI

— ABP LIVE (@abplive) June 1, 2023

The overall breadth too was fairly positive, with nearly 2,100 advancing shares versus 1,440-odd declining stocks on the BSE.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index ended flat, while Smallcap index added 0.6 per cent.

Among sectors, bank and metal indices fell 0.5 per cent each, while Information Technology, realty, and pharma gained 0.5-1 per cent.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex closed at 62,622, down 347 points, while the NSE Nifty50 was down 99 points to 18,534.

"Meanwhile, a mixed trend was witnessed on the sectoral front wherein banking and financials traded under pressure while pharma and realty edged higher. The outperformance continued from the broader front as both ended in the green," said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

In Asian markets, Seoul, and Hong Kong ended lower, while Tokyo and Shanghai settled in the green. Equity markets in Europe were trading in positive territory. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday.

Firing on all cylinders, India continues to maintain its streak of world-beating economic growth after GDP for the March quarter beat all expectations with a 6.1 per cent expansion that helped push the annual growth rate to 7.2 per cent. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose from 57.2 in April to 58.7 in May, indicating the strongest improvement in the health of the sector since October 2020.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.17 per cent to $72.48 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to remain, net buyers, as they bought equities worth Rs 3,405.90 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated by 33 paise to close at 82.42 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, as positive macroeconomic data strengthened investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 82.54 against the US dollar and settled at 82.42 (provisional), up 33 paise over its previous close amid sustained foreign fund inflows.

During the day, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 82.36 and a low of 82.54. On Wednesday, the rupee closed at 82.75 against the US currency. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.20 per cent to 104.12.