Market snapped its three-day winning streak with benchmark indices closing lower by more than 1 per cent on Thursday, dragged by IT, financials, and oil and gas stocks.

Market opened on a weak note amid mixed global cues. It slumped further during the day, witnessing broad-based selling. Indices closed lower, tracking losses in heavyweights such as HDFC and Infosys. 

The BSE Sensex closed at 58,788.02, down 770.31 points or 1.29 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 59,557.87 and a low of 58,653.94. The Nifty 50 closed at 17,560.20, down 219.80 points or 1.24 per cent, near the day’s low of 17,511.15. It recorded an intraday high of 17,781.15.

Breadth remains positive

The market breadth remained positive with 1,704 stocks advancing on the BSE, as against 1,653 that declined, while 81 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 469 stocks hit the upper circuit, as compared to the 161 stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. Besides, 175 stocks touched a 52-week high and 11 touched a 52-week low.

On the global front, US futures dipped even as US stocks ended positive overnight. FII selling has also weighed on investor sentiments.

Separately, the service sector reported a slowdown in growth in January as the IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers’ Index slumped to 51.5 in January, from 55.5 in December, owing to a surge in Covid-19 cases. 

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, “The domestic market extended its losses following broad-based selling as global cues turned in favour of bears.”

“All major sectors succumbed to selling while auto stocks showed some resistance on the back of sequential growth in auto sales numbers during January. US futures were under pressure following weak earnings numbers reported by Meta (Facebook) while European markets fretted about monetary policy tightening ahead of the central bank policy announcement,” Nair added.

Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto, Divi’s Lab, Maruti and ITC were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while HDFC, ONGC, SBI Life, Grasim and Infosys were the top laggards. 

Auto in focus

On the sectoral front, all indices except auto and consumer durables closed in the red. IT, realty, oil and gas, and financials witnessed increased pressure.

Nifty Auto was up 0.44 per cent at closing.

Meanwhile Nifty IT and Nifty Realty were down 2.05 per cent and 1.74 per cent, respectively. Nifty Oil & Gas was down 1.12 per cent. Nifty Financial Services was down 1.39 per cent while Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank were down 0.81 per cent and 0.95 per cent, respectively. 

Nifty PSU Bank was down 0.50 per cent. 

Broader indices 

Broader indices also closed in the red. 

Nifty Midcap 50 was down 1.16 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 0.47 per cent. The S&P BSE MIdcap was down 0.90 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 0.38 per cent. 

The volatility index rose 2.73 per cent to 19.16. 

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