Stock Market: Sensex Sinks Again, Down 276 Points, Nifty Settles At 16,167; Banks Gain

Stock update: On the BSE, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, and Bajaj Finance declined around 2 per cent each. PowerGrid, Maruti, Infosys, and ITC were the other prominent losers

New Delhi: The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday ended lower for the fourth straight consecutive session amid high volatility.

The two indices that started higher soon gave up gains and sank sharply as investors awaited US inflation data, which is slated to be released later in the day.

The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 276 points (0.51 per cent) to close at 54,088, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 73 points (0.45 per cent) down to end at 16,167. On Wednesday, Sensex swung in a band of 1,079 points intra-day trade.

On the other hand, the NSE Nifty traded below the 16,000-mark briefly in intra-day deals, however, finally recouped some of the losses and settled above 16,000.

On the BSE, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, and Bajaj Finance declined around 2 per cent each. PowerGrid, Maruti, Infosys, and ITC were the other prominent losers.

On the flip side, Axis Bank gained over 2 per cent. IndusInd Bank, HDFC, and Kotak Bank were the other notable gainers.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap index was down 0.3 per cent, and the smallcap index dropped 2.2 per cent. The overall breadth in the market was extremely negative, with more than three declining stocks for every advancing share on the BSE.

On the NSE, 10 out of the 15 sector gauges settled in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Metal, Nifty Consumer Durables, and Nifty Oil & Gas underperformed the index by falling as much as 5.20 per cent, 2.24 per cent and 2.29 per cent, respectively.

On Tuesday, BSE benchmark settled 105 points (0.19 per cent) lower at 54,364, while the Nifty dropped 61 points (0.38 per cent) to end at 16,240.

In Asia markets, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai ended with gains, while Seoul settled marginally lower.

Equity markets in Europe were quoting higher in the afternoon session. Stock exchanges in the US had ended mostly higher on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 3.12 per cent to $105.7 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 3,960.59 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.

"Nifty continues to be in the negative for the fourth consecutive session while Asian markets are mixed and European markets are up ahead of inflation report from the US," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told the PTI.