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

The domestic stock market witnessed a choppy start to Monday’s session, with benchmark indices losing momentum after opening higher. Although buying support initially pushed both the Sensex and Nifty upward, selling pressure soon emerged, dragging the market back into the red by 10 a.m.

By around 10 a.m., the Sensex was trading lower by 5.82 points, or 0.01 percent, at 78,487.72, while the Nifty had slipped 20.75 points, or 0.09 percent, to 24,332.80.

The session began on a positive note, with the Sensex opening 139.36 points higher at 78,632.90. It briefly rose further to 78,733.25 before profit-taking set in and erased its early gains.

The Nifty followed a similar pattern. It opened 37.95 points higher at 24,391.50 and climbed to 24,420.20 in the first 10 minutes before weakening sharply under selling pressure. By the half-hour mark, it had even fallen to an intraday low of 24,241.25 before recovering slightly.

Market breadth remains weak

Trading remained weak across the broader market as well. A total of 2,776 stocks were active on the exchanges, of which 945 were trading in the green while 1,831 were in the red.

Among Sensex constituents, 9 of the 30 stocks were trading higher, while 21 were under pressure. In the Nifty pack, 10 of the 50 stocks were in positive territory, compared with 40 stocks trading lower.

Among the key gainers, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Trent, Axis Bank and NTPC were trading higher by 2.14 percent to 0.50 percent.

On the losing side, shares of Jio Financial, TMPV, HDFC Life, Hindalco Industries and Eternal were down between 3.62 percent and 1.47 percent.

The previous trading session ended on a strong note. On Friday, the Sensex climbed 504.86 points, or 0.65 percent, to close at 78,493.54, while the Nifty rose 156.80 points, or 0.65 percent, to finish at 24,353.55.

The market opened weaker on Monday amid a negative start in Indian equities, with early trade showing the Sensex down 248 points and the Nifty below 24,300 in the opening minutes.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar