New Delhi, 20 April (H.S.):

Domestic equity markets witnessed sharp volatility throughout the day ahead of the second round of peace talks between the United States and Iran. Trading opened on a positive note, but sustained tug-of-war between bulls and bears kept both the Sensex and the Nifty fluctuating in a narrow range. At the end of the session, the Sensex closed higher by 0.03 percent and the Nifty by 0.05 percent.

Buying remained steady in automobile and PSU bank stocks throughout the day. Shares of capital goods, consumer durables, oil and gas, and public sector enterprise indices also ended in positive territory. On the other hand, IT, realty and telecom stocks remained under persistent selling pressure. FMCG, healthcare, metal and tech indices also closed lower.

Broader markets too faced selling pressure, with the Nifty Midcap index ending 0.18 percent lower and the Smallcap index falling 0.45 percent.

Despite the marginal gains in benchmark indices, heavy selling in midcap and smallcap stocks eroded investor wealth by nearly Rs 20,000 crore. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies declined to Rs 465.45 lakh crore (provisional) after today’s trade, compared with Rs 465.64 lakh crore at the close of trading on Friday. This means investors suffered a loss of about Rs 19,000 crore in a single session.

On the BSE, 4,578 stocks saw active trading during the day. Of these, 1,840 closed higher, 2,548 ended lower and 190 were unchanged. On the NSE, 2,978 stocks were actively traded, of which 1,123 finished in the green and 1,855 in the red. Among the 30 Sensex constituents, 12 closed with gains while 18 ended in losses. Similarly, 23 of the 50 Nifty stocks closed higher and 27 ended lower.

The BSE Sensex opened 139.36 points higher at 78,632.90. Soon after trading began, buying pushed the index up by as much as 448.91 points to 78,942.45. However, once selling pressure intensified, the index slipped by 290.24 points to 78,203.30. By the end of the session, the Sensex settled at 78,520.30, up just 26.76 points.

The NSE Nifty also started the day on a firm note, rising 37.95 points to open at 24,391.50.

Soon after the market opened, the battle between bulls and bears drove the index up and down repeatedly. Supported by buying, the Nifty climbed 127.10 points to 24,480.65. But under selling pressure, it dropped 112.30 points to 24,241.25. It finally closed at 24,364.85, with a modest gain of 11.30 points.

Among the major gainers in today’s trade, Trent Ltd. rose 3.29 percent, JSW Steel 2.76 percent, State Bank of India 2.55 percent, Asian Paints 2.14 percent and Grasim Industries 1.46 percent. On the losing side, Jio Financial fell 2.75 percent, Hindalco Industries 2.29 percent, TMPV 1.22 percent, Kotak Mahindra 1.15 percent and Bharat Electronics 1.12 percent.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar