Sensex and Nifty, two key equity benchmarks, on Thursday ended in the red after slipping 8 points in a volatile trade. The domestic indices, which rose during early trade, gradually lost their gains and slipped into the negative territory taking mixed cues.


The BSE Sensex settled 8 points (0.02 per cent) lower to close at 53,019, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 19 points (0.12 per cent) to settle at 15,780.


On the 30-share BSE platform, only 11 stocks closed in green. Axis Bank, SBI, Kotak Bank, NTPC, L&T, Reliance, ICICI Bank, Titan, and PowerGrid rose 0.3-1.7 per cent. Divis Labs, Britannia, and SBI Life were the additional winners on the Nifty.


On the flipside, Tech M, Bajaj twins, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, M&M, Nestle, Ultratech Cement, Eicher Motors, Cipla, BPCL JSW Steel, Shree Cement, and Coal India were the top drags across the two benchmarks, closing up to 3.5 per cent lower.


The broader markets suffered more losses than the frontline indices. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices shed 0.5 and 0.7 per cent, respectively. 


On NSE, 11 out of the 15 sector gauges settled in the red. Sectorwise, Nifty Banks and financials were the sole outperformers, ending around 0.5 per cent up. On the flip side, metals led losses closing 2 per cent down. Other top drags were auto, IT, realty, and PSBs, which cracked a per cent each.


The overall market breadth stood negative as 1,377 shares advanced, while 1,899 declined on the BSE.


In their previous session on Wednesday, Sensex had slipped 150 points (0.28 per cent) to close at 53,027, while Nifty had moved 51 points (0.32 per cent) lower to settle at 15,799.


Meanwhile, the rupee rebounded from its all-time low to close 5 paise higher at 78.98 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 78.92 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 78.90 and a low of 78.99.


It finally settled at 78.98, a rise of 5 paise over its previous close.


Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.17 per cent to $116.06 per barrel.


Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 851.06 crore, as per exchange data.