New Delhi, 14 July (H.S.): .

India's domestic equity market remained under sustained pressure throughout Tuesday's trading session amid persistent negative sentiment triggered by renewed tensions in West Asia following the collapse of the ceasefire, a sharp surge in international crude oil prices, and a significant depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar. At the close of trade, the BSE Sensex declined 0.72 percent, while the NSE Nifty ended 0.66 percent lower. The market downturn wiped out nearly Rs 2.20 lakh crore from investors' wealth during the day's trading.

The market opened on a weak note. During the first 10 minutes of trading, buying support helped both the Sensex and the Nifty recover modestly. However, selling pressure soon intensified, dragging the indices lower. Although buyers attempted several times to support the market through value buying, and the indices witnessed intermittent fluctuations during the first half of the session, persistent selling pressure outweighed all recovery attempts.

The BSE Sensex opened 344.06 points, or 0.44 percent, lower at 77,272.34. Within the first 10 minutes, it recovered nearly 130 points from the opening level to touch 77,402.79. Thereafter, heavy selling resumed, pulling the benchmark steadily lower.

The market remained volatile until around 11:30 a.m., after which sellers intensified broad-based selling pressure, causing the Sensex to slide further. Shortly before the close, the index had fallen 614.92 points to an intraday low of 77,001.48. It eventually settled 561.46 points lower at 77,054.94.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty opened 143 points, or 0.59 percent, lower at 24,068. Early buying lifted the index by nearly 90 points to 24,157.10 before selling pressure resumed. Throughout the first half of the session, the benchmark remained volatile as buyers and sellers battled for control.

In the second half, broad-based selling intensified, pushing the Nifty sharply lower. Shortly before the close, the index had slipped 187.30 points to an intraday low of 24,023.70. Mild buying during intraday settlement helped it recover nearly 30 points from the day's low before it closed 158.95 points lower at 24,052.05.

Most sectoral indices ended in the red. Realty, banking and information technology stocks remained under sustained selling pressure throughout the session. The FMCG, oil and gas, media, infrastructure, energy and consumer durables indices also closed lower. In contrast, pharmaceutical and metal stocks attracted consistent buying interest. The broader market also witnessed persistent selling, with the Nifty Midcap Index ending 0.44 percent lower and the Nifty Smallcap Index declining 1.01 percent.

The market weakness eroded more than Rs 2 lakh crore from investors' wealth. The total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies declined to a provisional Rs 479.40 lakh crore at the close of trading, compared with Rs 481.60 lakh crore on Monday, resulting in an estimated loss of around Rs 2.20 lakh crore for investors.

A total of 4,433 stocks were actively traded on the BSE, of which 1,501 advanced, 2,737 declined, and 195 closed unchanged. On the NSE, 2,975 stocks witnessed active trading, with 834 ending in the green and 2,141 finishing lower. Among the 30 Sensex constituents, six stocks closed higher while 24 ended in negative territory. Of the 50 Nifty constituents, 16 advanced and 34 declined.

Among the benchmark gainers, Bharti Airtel rose 1.82 percent, Apollo Hospitals gained 1.34 percent, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries advanced 1.10 percent, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories added 0.95 percent, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) climbed 0.88 percent. On the losing side, HCL Technologies fell 4.46 percent, Shriram Finance declined 3.26 percent, HDFC Life dropped 3.17 percent, TMPV lost 2.60 percent, and InterGlobe Aviation slipped 2.32 percent.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar