New Delhi, 23 July (H.S.): The domestic stock market ended lower for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday amid ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran and a continued rise in global crude oil prices. The market opened on a weak note, and although buyers attempted a recovery during the initial trading session, the effort failed to sustain momentum.

After 11 am, heavy selling pressure emerged across sectors, leading to further losses in both the Sensex and Nifty indices. The Sensex fell more than 600 points during intra-day trading, while the Nifty slipped nearly 190 points. However, modest buying in the final half hour helped both indices recover partially from their day’s lows. At the close of trading, the Sensex declined 0.47 per cent, while the Nifty ended 0.53 per cent lower.

The BSE Sensex opened at 76,515.10 points, down 239.95 points or 0.31 per cent. Soon after opening, buying interest among investors helped the index recover, and it moved up by more than 210 points from the opening level to reach 76,726.66 points around 11 am. However, selling pressure intensified thereafter.

Due to continuous selling, the Sensex slipped 603.07 points or 0.79 per cent to touch an intra-day low of 76,151.98 points shortly before 3 pm. In the final half hour, renewed buying activity helped the index recover nearly 240 points from the day’s low. The Sensex finally closed 363.66 points lower at 76,391.39 points.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty opened at 23,904.80 points, declining 91.45 points or 0.38 per cent. The index recovered in early trade following buying support and reached 23,990.75 points around 11 am, gaining nearly 85 points from its opening level.

However, renewed selling pressure pushed the index lower. Nearly half an hour before the end of trading, the Nifty declined 189.05 points or 0.79 per cent to touch 23,807.20 points. Later, buying activity helped the index recover more than 60 points from the day’s low, and it closed at 23,869.60 points, down 126.65 points.

Most sectoral indices ended in the red during Thursday’s trading session. Shares from the realty, oil and gas, and infrastructure sectors witnessed heavy selling. Energy, banking, IT, capital goods, consumer durables, FMCG, healthcare, metal and public sector enterprise indices also closed with losses.

On the other hand, automobile and media sector stocks witnessed buying interest. The Nifty Auto index gained 0.70 per cent, while the media index surged 0.22 per cent. In the broader market, continuous selling pressure impacted mid-cap and small-cap stocks, with the Nifty Midcap index declining 0.99 per cent and the Smallcap index falling 1.01 per cent.

The decline in the stock market reduced investors’ wealth by nearly ₹3 lakh crore. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies fell to ₹476.88 lakh crore (provisional) after Thursday’s trade, compared with ₹479.87 lakh crore on the previous trading day, Wednesday. This resulted in an estimated loss of around ₹2.99 lakh crore for investors.

During the day’s trading session, 4,391 shares were actively traded on the BSE. Of these, 1,637 shares closed with gains, 2,585 declined, and 169 remained unchanged.

On the NSE, 2,973 shares witnessed active trading, with 910 stocks ending in positive territory and 2,063 closing with losses. Among the 30 Sensex constituents, 11 shares gained while 19 declined. In the Nifty 50 index, 19 stocks closed higher and 31 ended lower.

Among the major Sensex stocks, Bajaj Auto gained 2.59 per cent, SBI Life Insurance rose 2.59 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra advanced 1.71 per cent, TCS increased 1.57 per cent and Eicher Motors climbed 1.17 per cent, making them the top gainers of the day.

On the losing side, Adani Enterprises declined 4.37 per cent, Shriram Finance fell 3.12 per cent, Nestle dropped 3.06 per cent, Adani Ports declined 2.25 per cent and Bajaj Finance slipped 1.93 per cent, emerging among the top losers.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar