In a highly volatile trade, the Sensex and the Nifty ended marginally in the red on sustained foreign fund outflows triggered by deficient monsoon forecast, RBI’s cautious stance on economic recovery and rupee slumping to a 20-month low.

However, renewed buying in realty, oil & gas, capital goods and infrastructure stocks limited the Sensex losses.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex resumed higher at 26,940.64 and hovered in a range of 26,948.84 and 26,551.97 before ending at 26,813.92, down by 23.78 points or 0.09 per cent

Similarly, the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended down by 4.45 points or 0.05 per cent at 8,130.65.

Sectoral indices

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index fell the most by 1.11 per cent, followed by healthcare 0.77 per cent, consumer durables 0.75 per cent and auto 0.7 per cent. On the other hand, realty index was up 0.82 per cent, followed by capital goods 0.59 per cent, oil & gas 0.53 per cent and IT 0.2 per cent.

Gainers, losers

Major Sensex losers were Tata Steel (-2.58%), ONGC (-2.16%), VEDL (-1.89%), ICICI Bank (-1.74%) and Bajaj Auto (-1.37%), while the top five gainers were Reliance (+1.85%), Wipro (+1.75%), HDFC (+1.18%), HDFC Bank (+1.05%) and Axis Bank (+0.98%).

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 727.61 cr yesterday, according to provisional data.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) had bought shares worth Rs 412.66 cr yesterday.

Early trade

The benchmark BSE Sensex recovered by over 111 points in early trade after two sessions of sharp losses on value-buying by investors amid a firm trend in other Asian markets.

The 30-share index rebounded by 111.64 points or 0.41 per cent, to 26,948.84 with the stocks of oil & gas, capital goods, IT, realty and infrastructure sectors leading the recovery.

The gauge had lost 1,011.79 points in the previous two sessions after RBI took a cautious stance on the economic recovery and fears of a drought in the country after the Met department projected monsoon this year to be “deficient“.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty was up 24.95 points or 0.3 per cent at 8,160.05 in early trade.

Global markets

European shares lost ground on Thursday as a pick-up in bond yields weighed on utility stocks, whose large levels of debt make them particularly sensitive to credit market jitters.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.6 per cent, while Germany's DAX weakened by 0.5 per cent.

The euro continued riding high on Thursday thanks to a spike in euro zone debt yields, while in Asian equities, Chinese shares slid and tempered risk sentiment.

China's CSI300 index lost 1.7 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.8 per cent. The country’s equities have sagged recently on concern that waves of new share offerings will sap liquidity in other stocks.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.1 per cent.

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