New Delhi, 14 January (H.S.): After experiencing fluctuations throughout the trading session on Wednesday, the domestic share market closed lower for the second consecutive day. The market opened with a decline, followed by persistent tug-of-war between buyers and sellers, causing both Sensex and Nifty indices to swing up and down repeatedly. Supported by buying interest, the market briefly entered positive territory, but selling pressure ultimately forced it into the red.

At the end of the day's trading, Sensex settled 0.29 percent lower, while Nifty closed with a 0.26 percent decline.Throughout Wednesday's session, consistent buying persisted in metal, public sector enterprise, and PSU bank sector shares. Oil and gas as well as capital goods indices also ended firmly higher.

Conversely, selling pressure dominated realty, IT, and automobile sector shares. Consumer durables, FMCG, healthcare, and tech indices likewise closed lower. Buying interest prevailed in the broader market, enabling BSE's midcap index to gain 0.16 percent and smallcap index to rise 0.25 percent by the close.

Despite the market's overall weakness, buying in smallcap and midcap shares boosted stock market investors' wealth by more than ₹30,000 crore. The market capitalization of BSE-listed companies rose to ₹468.12 lakh crore (provisional) after Wednesday's trading, up from ₹467.79 lakh crore on the previous trading day, Tuesday.

Thus, investors gained approximately ₹33,000 crore from the session.

Active trading occurred in 4,344 BSE shares on Wednesday, with 2,012 closing higher, 2,153 lower, and 179 unchanged. On NSE, 2,864 shares saw active trading, with 1,441 ending in profit (green) and 1,423 in loss (red). Among Sensex's 30 constituents, 13 advanced while 17 declined; in Nifty's 50 stocks, 22 gained and 28 lost ground.

Sensex VolatilityBSE's Sensex opened 269.15 points lower at 83,358.54 on Wednesday. Tug-of-war between bulls and bears ensued immediately, leading to fluctuations in the index. Buoyed by buying, Sensex climbed 182.29 points to 83,809.98, but selling pressure caused it to plunge 624.78 points from the peak, reaching a low of 83,185.20—a net drop of 442.49 points.

Late-session buying recovered nearly 200 points from the bottom, closing 244.98 points down at 83,382.71.Nifty's SwingsSimilarly, NSE's Nifty opened 83.75 points lower at 25,648.55. Buyers and sellers vied for control post-opening, keeping the index volatile. Buying support lifted Nifty 59.45 points to 25,791.75, but selling erased 187.80 points from the high, hitting a low of 25,603.95—a 128.35-point decline. Buyers rallied in the final stretch, recovering 61.65 points from the day's bottom to close 66.70 points weaker at 25,665.60.

Sector and Top MoversTop gainers among heavyweight shares included Tata Steel (up 3.66%), NTPC (3.31%), Axis Bank (2.92%), Hindalco Industries (2.03%), and ONGC (1.83%). Leading losers were Asian Paints (down 2.39%), TCS (2.30%), Maruti Suzuki (1.77%), Sun Pharma (1.69%), and Hindustan Unilever (1.53%).

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar