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Bears maintained their grip on the market as benchmark indices ended lower for the third consecutive session on Thursday.
Market opened on a weak note amid negative global cues. It extended losses through the day amid across the board selling, majorly auto and metals. The broader market too witnessed selling pressure. Markets will remain closed on Friday due to Gurunanak Jayanthi.
The BSE Sensex closed at 59,636.01, down 372.32 points or 0.62 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 60,177.52 and a low of 59,376.50. The Nifty 50 closed at 17,764.80, down 133.85 points or 0.75 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 17,945.60 and a low of 17,688.50.
The volatility index softened 0.81 per cent to end below 15 at 14.86.
Decliners outnumber
The market breadth continued to favour the decliners with 2,289 stocks declining on the BSE as against 1,038 that advanced while 135 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 329 stocks hit the upper circuit as compared to the 239 stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. Besides, 203 stocks touched a 52-week high level and 57 touched a 52-week low.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "Weak listing of India’s largest IPO and soft global market amid rising inflation woes impacted domestic sentiment. In the context of a weak global market, contraction extended in metal and crude oil prices weighing down the Indian market.
“The auto sector was also under pressure as the industry reported weak festive sales numbers owing to poor demand for two-wheelers and supply shortage in semiconductors,” added Nair.
India’s largest IPO by One97 Communications, which operates Paytm, made a tepid debut on the bourses today, listing at a 9 per cent discount against its issue price of ₹2,150. Its shares slipped further, ending at 27.25 per cent lower at ₹1,564.15. It listed at ₹1,950 on the NSE, a 9.30 per cent discount and closed at ₹1,560.
Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities said, “Domestic equites fell for the third consecutive day amid mixed global cues as heavy profit booking in auto, IT and metals dragged benchmark Nifty. Notably, most key sectoral indices traded in red, while midcap and smallcap indices witnessed steeper contraction than broader market.
“Auto, after sharp rally in recent days, witnessed heavy profit booking today. For the week, benchmark Nifty corrected over 1.5 per cent, while market cap of Sensex mostly remained flat week-on-week mainly led by new listing including Paytm,” said Modi.
Across the board selling
On the sectoral front, all indices except Nifty PSU Bank closed in the red.
Auto and metals recorded the highest losses. Nifty Auto was down 2.61 per cent at closing while Nifty Metal was down 2.59 per cent.
IT, Realty and Pharma also recorded higher losses. Nifty IT was down 1.78 per cent. Nifty Realty was down 1.73 per cent. Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare Index were down 1.03 per cent and 1.23 per cent, respectively.
Nifty PSU Bank ended flat, up 0.07 per cent.
Broader markets under pressure
Broader indices also closed in the red.
The Nifty Midcap 50 was down 1.69 per cent while the Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 1.97 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was down 1.68 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 1.52 per cent.
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