New Delhi, June 17 (H.S.): The domestic stock market ended lower today, influenced by foreign investor selling and rising crude oil prices. The session started positively with both the Sensex and Nifty indices recording slight gains, but soon faced selling pressure, leading to declines. The Sensex closed down by 0.26 percent and the Nifty by 0.37 percent. Selling was evident in sectors such as metals, pharmaceuticals, and oil and gas. Other sectors like realty, public sector enterprises, automobiles, banking, capital goods, consumer durables, and FMCG also saw declines. Conversely, IT and tech indices performed well. The broader market struggled, with the BSE midcap index down by 0.56 percent and the small-cap index down by 0.67 percent.

The decline led to a loss of approximately ₹2.75 lakh crore in investor wealth, bringing the market capitalization of BSE-listed companies to ₹447.79 lakh crore from ₹450.52 lakh crore on the previous trading day. Active trades included 4,118 shares on the BSE, with 1,496 gaining, 2,483 dropping, and 139 unchanged. On the NSE, 2,589 shares were traded, with 828 rising and 1,761 falling. Of the 30 Sensex shares, 9 gained and 21 fell, while in the Nifty, 12 closed higher and 38 lower. The BSE Sensex opened at 81,869.47 points, peaking at 81,890.15 points before succumbing to selling.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar