New Delhi, 2 December (H.S.): The Indian stock market closed lower for the third consecutive trading session on Tuesday, with persistent selling pressure dragging both the Sensex and Nifty into the red throughout the day. After opening weak, the indices briefly recovered on early buying but soon slipped as sellers regained control, keeping the benchmarks under pressure for the entire session.

By the end of trading, the Sensex fell 0.59 percent, while the Nifty declined 0.55 percent, extending the market’s losing streak amid weak global cues, continued foreign investor outflows, a sharp fall in banking stocks, and a weakening rupee against the US dollar.

Banking and financial sector shares bore the brunt of the sell-off, while energy, public sector enterprises, IT, auto, capital goods, FMCG, healthcare, and metal stocks also ended lower. However, consumer durables and technology indices managed to close with gains. In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap Index slipped 0.14 percent, while the Smallcap Index dropped 0.49 percent.

The market turbulence eroded investors’ wealth by more than Rs 2 lakh crore. The combined market capitalization of companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell to an estimated Rs 472.51 lakh crore by the day’s close, compared with Rs 474.52 lakh crore on Monday—reflecting a one-day notional loss of Rs 2.01 lakh crore.

During the session, 4,316 stocks traded actively on the BSE, with 1,596 shares advancing, 2,554 declining, and 166 remaining unchanged. Similarly, on the NSE, 2,823 shares were traded—887 ended in the green and 1,936 in the red. Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 10 gained while 20 declined; in the Nifty index, 14 stocks advanced and 36 fell.

The BSE Sensex opened the day lower at 85,325.51, down by 316.39 points, but briefly rebounded by over 200 points to touch an intraday high of 85,553.51. However, renewed selling pressure pulled it down to 85,053 by around 3 p.m. before a mild recovery lifted it to close at 85,138.27, down 503.63 points.

The NSE Nifty also mirrored the weak sentiment, opening 66.65 points lower at 26,087.95. It briefly rose to 26,154.60 within the first 10 minutes of trade but soon came under selling pressure, falling to an intraday low of 25,997.85 before closing 143.55 points down at 26,032.20.

Among the major gainers on the BSE were Asian Paints, up 3.03 percent; Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, 1.20 percent; Maruti Suzuki, 0.88 percent; Bharti Airtel, 0.68 percent; and Hindustan Unilever, 0.54 percent. On the losing side, InterGlobe Aviation fell 1.67 percent, Axis Bank 1.39 percent, Reliance Industries 1.26 percent, ICICI Bank 1.23 percent, and HDFC Bank 1.23 percent—all featuring among the session’s top five laggards.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar