Benchmark indices reversed positive trend and hit fresh intraday low in mid-afternoon trade, dragged by selling in banking, metals, financial services, capital goods shares. The Nifty slipped below 11,500 mark to an intraday low of 11,446.10.

At the end of the day, the 30-share BSE index declined 134.03 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 38,845.82.

The market breadth has turned negative. On the BSE, Out of 2,910 shares traded, 1,317 shares have advanced and 1,423 shares declined. A total of 170 shares were unchanged.

The NSE Nifty which rose 68 points to 11,584.10 in early trade, met with selling pressure later and ended at 11,504.95, down by 11.15 points from its previous close.

Asian markets finished broadly higher today with shares in China leading the region. The Shanghai Composite was up 2.07% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.37% and Japan's Nikkei 225 too edged up 0.18%.

Earlier in the day, domestic equity benchmark Sensex jumped nearly 200 points tracking gains in other Asian peers.

Notable gainer among the sectoral indices was the BSE Healthcare index which has bucked the overall weakness. The BSE Healthcare rose sharply by 690.10 points, or 3.50%, to 19,714.66. Similary, The BSE Telecom has also risen 31.46 points, or 2.69%, to 1,171.14.

Bharti Airtel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3.75 per cent, followed by NTPC, PowerGrid, Tech Mahindra, M&M, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Asian Paint and UltraCemco.

Among the top losers were HDFC Bank, Maruti, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Kotak Bank, Hindustan UniLever and SBI.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 249.82 crore on a net basis on Thursday.

Buzzing stock

Dr Reddy's zooms 10 per cent on settlement claims with Celgene

Shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories jumped Rs 500.10, or 10.36%, to rs 5,326.70 on the BSE today. The pharma major has announced the settlement of its litigation with Celgene, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol Myers Squibb, relating to patents for Revlimid (lenalidomide) capsules.

In a settlement of all outstanding claims in the litigation, Celgene has agreed to provide Dr Reddy’s with a licence to sell volume-limited amounts of generic lenalidomide capsules in the US after March 2022 subject to regulatory approval.

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