New Delhi, 11 June (H.S.):

The domestic equity market ended in negative territory on Thursday after witnessing sharp fluctuations throughout the trading session. The benchmark indices opened weak and initially came under selling pressure, but later staged a strong recovery from their intraday lows before renewed selling in the afternoon erased all gains. At the close, both the Sensex and the Nifty settled in the red.

During intraday trading, the BSE Sensex recovered more than 875 points from its lowest level, while the NSE Nifty rebounded over 255 points. However, selling pressure intensified after 1 p.m., causing both indices to surrender their gains and finish lower. By the end of the session, the Sensex had declined 0.20 per cent and the Nifty had fallen 0.23 per cent.

Banking, media, and pharmaceutical stocks witnessed sustained buying interest during the day. On the other hand, information technology, real estate, and energy stocks remained under pressure. Automobile, capital goods, consumer durables, FMCG, metals, oil and gas, technology, and public sector enterprise indices also ended lower.

The broader market remained weak as well. The Nifty Midcap Index closed down 0.81 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap Index ended the session with a loss of 0.67 per cent.

The market decline resulted in a significant erosion of investor wealth. The total market capitalisation of companies listed on the BSE declined to ₹452.57 lakh crore (provisional) at the close of trading, compared with ₹454.98 lakh crore in the previous session. As a result, investors suffered a notional loss of approximately ₹2.41 lakh crore during the day.

Trading activity remained broad-based. A total of 4,389 stocks were actively traded on the BSE, of which 1,384 advanced, 2,807 declined, and 198 remained unchanged. On the NSE, 2,998 stocks witnessed active trading, with 772 closing higher and 2,226 ending lower. Among the 30 Sensex constituents, nine stocks advanced while 21 declined. In the Nifty 50 index, 16 stocks closed in positive territory and 34 ended lower.

The BSE Sensex opened at 73,615.99, down 367.19 points from the previous close. Selling pressure immediately after the opening dragged the index down to an intraday low of 73,518.75, representing a decline of 464.43 points.

Subsequently, strong buying support helped the index recover steadily. Shortly before 1 p.m., the Sensex surged 875.59 points from its intraday low to reach a high of 74,394.34, reflecting a gain of 411.16 points over the previous close.

However, fresh selling emerged in the afternoon, reversing the market’s momentum. The index eventually lost 561.79 points from its intraday high and settled at 73,832.55, down 150.63 points for the day.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty opened at 23,104.40, lower by 110.55 points. Early selling pushed the index down to 23,072.05, a loss of 142.90 points.

Thereafter, buying interest returned and lifted the benchmark sharply. Shortly before 1 p.m., the Nifty had recovered 255.40 points from its intraday low to touch 23,327.45, up 112.50 points from the previous close.

Profit-booking and renewed selling later in the day reversed the gains. The index fell 165.85 points from its intraday high and closed at 23,161.60, down 53.35 points or 0.23 per cent.

Among the blue-chip gainers, ICICI Bank rose 1.83 per cent, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra at 1.64 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank at 1.35 per cent, JSW Steel at 0.98 per cent, and Grasim Industries at 0.60 per cent.

On the losing side, Infosys declined 2.68 per cent, HCL Technologies fell 1.93 per cent, Eternal lost 1.92 per cent, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone slipped 1.87 per cent, and Trent Limited weakened 1.59 per cent, making them the top laggards of the session.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar