New Delhi, 3 December (H.S.):

The domestic equity markets closed lower for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, with investors suffering heavy losses of nearly ₹2.8 trillion. Despite a mixed and flat opening, both benchmark indices—Sensex and Nifty—succumbed to selling pressure and ended the day in negative territory after brief recovery attempts.

After opening slightly higher, the Sensex initially gained support from early buying, climbing to 85,269.68 points. However, persistent selling dragged it down over 500 points to an intraday low of 84,763.64. The index later recovered more than 340 points in the final trading hour but still settled with a marginal loss of 31.46 points, closing at 85,106.81.

In contrast, the Nifty began the day at 26,004.90, gained briefly to touch 26,066.45 during early trade, but soon slipped under selling pressure. Despite a late-session recovery, it ended the day 46.20 points lower at 25,986.The sharp decline in PSU bank stocks weighed heavily on market sentiment, with the Nifty PSU Bank Index tanking over 3 percent.

Weakness also persisted across public sector enterprises, defence, consumer durables, automobiles, capital goods, FMCG, healthcare, and oil & gas sectors. IT and technology indices, however, bucked the trend and managed to close with gains.Broader markets mirrored the decline, as the BSE Midcap Index fell 0.95 percent and the Smallcap Index dropped 0.43 percent.

Out of 4,316 actively traded stocks on the BSE, 1,484 advanced, 2,682 declined, and 153 ended unchanged. On the NSE, 861 stocks closed in the green while 1,990 ended in the red.The day’s market setback shrank the total market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms to ₹469.66 trillion from ₹472.46 trillion recorded on Tuesday, wiping out around ₹2.8 trillion in investor wealth.

Among Sensex heavyweights, Wipro (up 1.81 percent), TCS (1.41 percent), ICICI Bank (1.35 percent), Hindalco Industries (1.17 percent), and Infosys (1.13 percent) were the top gainers. On the losing side, Max Healthcare (down 2.82 percent), Adani Enterprises (2.22 percent), Bharat Electronics (2.20 percent), Tata Consumer Products (1.91 percent), and Adani Ports (1.34 percent) featured among the top losers.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar