New Delhi, 08 June (H.S.): The domestic equity market ended sharply lower on Monday as escalating tensions in West Asia and a surge in crude oil prices weighed heavily on investor sentiment. Trading had opened on a weak note, and although value buying at lower levels helped the market recover significantly during the first half of the session, renewed selling pressure emerged around 1 p.m., dragging both benchmark indices deeper into negative territory. At the close, the Sensex ended down 0.97 percent, while the Nifty declined 1.04 percent.

All sectoral indices remained under pressure throughout the day and finished in the red due to sustained selling. Realty and metal stocks witnessed particularly heavy selling, resulting in the Nifty Metal Index closing 2.43 percent lower. The Realty Index also declined 2.01 percent. Banking, IT, automobile, capital goods, consumer durables, FMCG, healthcare, oil and gas, public sector enterprises, and technology indices also settled lower.

The broader market remained under pressure as well. The Nifty Midcap Index fell 1.40 percent, while the Smallcap Index ended the session down 1.92 percent.

The market downturn wiped out more than ₹6 lakh crore of investors’ wealth. The total market capitalization of companies listed on the BSE declined to ₹455.09 lakh crore (provisional) by the end of trading, compared with ₹461.10 lakh crore on Friday, the last trading session of the previous week. As a result, investors suffered an estimated loss of approximately ₹6.01 lakh crore during the day.

A total of 4,537 stocks were actively traded on the BSE. Of these, 1,249 stocks advanced, 3,117 declined, and 171 remained unchanged. On the NSE, 2,990 stocks witnessed active trading, with 579 ending higher and 2,411 closing lower.

Among the 30 Sensex constituents, seven stocks closed in positive territory while 23 ended lower. Similarly, among the 50 Nifty constituents, 10 stocks advanced and 40 declined.

The BSE Sensex opened at 73,421.61, down 821.73 points from its previous close. Selling pressure immediately after the opening dragged the index to an intraday low of 73,318.94, down 924.40 points. Buyers then stepped in, leading to a steady recovery. Supported by continuous buying, the Sensex rebounded 615.41 points from the day's low and climbed to 73,934.35 around 1 p.m.

However, fresh selling pressure re-emerged during the afternoon session, causing the benchmark to surrender much of its recovery. The Sensex eventually closed at 73,524.26, down 719.08 points, after slipping 410.09 points from its intraday high.

The NSE Nifty followed a similar trajectory. It opened lower by 286 points at 23,080.70. Subsequent buying support helped the index recover, and by around 1 p.m. it had rebounded 197.15 points from its intraday low to reach 23,267.30. However, renewed selling pressure in the latter half of the session pushed the index lower once again. After a volatile day of trading, the Nifty closed at 23,123.00, down 243.70 points, having fallen 144.30 points from its intraday high.

Among the market heavyweights, Max Healthcare emerged as the top gainer with a rise of 3.09 percent. It was followed by Power Grid Corporation (+1.63 percent), Tech Mahindra (+1.34 percent), Bharat Electronics (+1.16 percent), and Nestlé India (+0.92 percent).

On the losing side, Wipro led the declines with a steep fall of 8.37 percent. Other major losers included Jio Financial Services (-3.39 percent), Eternal (-3.20 percent), Shriram Finance (-2.89 percent), and Hindalco Industries (-2.76 percent).

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar