New Delhi, 07 August (H.S.): Domestic equity markets ended lower on Friday after remaining under pressure throughout the trading session due to weak global cues. The market opened on a negative note and despite several attempts by buyers to provide support through bargain hunting, persistent selling pressure prevented any meaningful recovery. At the end of the session, the Sensex declined 0.58 per cent, while the Nifty closed 0.27 per cent lower.

The BSE Sensex opened 438.68 points, or 0.56 per cent, lower at 78,516.08. Soon after the opening, selling pressure intensified, dragging the index further down. Although buyers attempted to revive the market several times, the recovery remained limited.

Supported by intermittent buying, the Sensex climbed 241.32 points from its opening level to touch an intraday high of 78,757.40. However, the recovery failed to sustain as fresh selling emerged. The index later slipped 577.69 points, or 0.73 per cent, to an intraday low of 78,377.07. After a day-long volatile session, the Sensex closed 455.59 points lower at 78,499.17.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty opened 97.10 points, or 0.39 per cent, down at 24,538.90. The index recovered soon after the opening and gained more than 90 points to reach 24,630.40, supported by buying interest. However, widespread selling pressure pulled the index down again.

The Nifty declined 113.25 points, or 0.46 per cent, to touch an intraday low of 24,522.75. Buying activity during the final half-hour of trading helped the index recover nearly 50 points from the day’s low. It finally settled 65.35 points lower at 24,570.65.

During the day’s trading, automobile and IT sector stocks witnessed strong buying interest. The Nifty Auto index gained 1.84 per cent, while the Nifty IT index ended 1.42 per cent higher. Apart from these, the Capital Goods, FMCG, Healthcare and Metal indices also closed in positive territory.

On the other hand, the Public Sector Enterprises, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Banking indices ended with losses. The broader market witnessed mixed trends, with the Nifty Midcap index closing 0.22 per cent higher, while the Smallcap index ended 0.05 per cent lower.

The decline in the stock market resulted in a loss of more than Rs 1.60 lakh crore in investors’ wealth. The total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies fell to Rs 493.34 lakh crore (provisional) at the end of Thursday’s trade, compared with Rs 494.95 lakh crore in the previous trading session. This indicates a loss of nearly Rs 1.61 lakh crore for investors during the day.

A total of 4,460 shares were actively traded on the BSE during the session. Of these, 2,044 shares closed with gains, 2,209 ended lower, while 207 remained unchanged. On the NSE, 2,998 shares witnessed active trading, with 1,479 stocks closing in the green and 1,519 ending with losses.

Among the 30 Sensex constituents, 14 stocks closed higher, while 16 declined. In the Nifty 50 index, 23 stocks ended with gains and 27 closed in negative territory.

Among major stocks, TCS emerged as the top gainer, rising 3.36 per cent, followed by Grasim Industries (3.20 per cent), Hindalco Industries (3.17 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra (2.82 per cent) and HCL Technologies (1.62 per cent).

On the losing side, Bajaj Finance declined 5.84 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv (3.70 per cent), Trent Ltd (3.54 per cent), ICICI Bank (2.50 per cent) and Jio Financial Services (2.39 per cent).

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar