Share market today: The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday closed in the red for the fifth straight session amid F&O expiry day as investors offloaded metal, banking and finance stocks amid a lacklustre trend in global markets. Following a steep sell-off seen in the morning deals, the benchmarks staged a recovery, however, closed flat at the end of the trading session.
The BSE Sensex index settled at 80,040, down 109 points. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 ended at 24,406, down 7 points.
Stock update
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Motors jumped over 6 per cent, followed by L&T, Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, PowerGrid. On the down side, Axis Bank dropped 5 per cent, followed by Nestle, ICICI Bank, Titan, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank.
In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and SmallCap indices closed 0.2 per cent and 0.14 per cent lower, respectively.
Sectoral update
Sectorally, Nifty Metal index declined over 1 per cent, Nifty Private Bank fell 0.9 per cent, while the Nifty Bank slipped 0.83 per cent. On the contrary, Nifty Auto index advanced over 1 per cent.
In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark declined 280 points to settle at 80,148, while the NSE Nifty50 slumped 66 points to 24,413.
Global update
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong settled lower. European markets were trading in the negative territory. The US markets ended significantly lower on Wednesday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 5,130.90 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.73 per cent to $80.31 a barrel.
Rupee falls 1 paisa
The rupee fell 1 paisa to close at an all-time low of 83.72 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, dragged down by demand for the American currency in the overseas market and significant foreign fund outflows. Forex traders said the fall in domestic unit came on the heels of a significant downturn in the Indian equity markets, sparked by the government's decision to hike the tax rate on capital gains.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.72 and touched an intra-day high of 83.66 and a low of 83.72 against the dollar during the session.
It finally settled at an all-time low level of 83.72 (provisional) against the American currency, down 1 paisa from its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee depreciated 2 paise to hit its all-time closing low of 83.71 against the US dollar.