New Delhi, 11 September (H.S.): The domestic stock market traded largely in line with movements in crude oil prices in the international market today. The market opened on a weak note amid a surge in crude oil prices. As crude oil prices continued to rise, weakness in the equity market also intensified. However, after crude oil prices touched $108.77 per barrel at around 10 a.m. Indian time, they began to decline, triggering a recovery in the stock market as well.

The Sensex staged an intraday recovery of 756.99 points. Similarly, the Nifty rebounded as much as 216.70 points from its intraday low. Around 3 p.m., a slight uptick in crude oil prices once again weakened the movement of both the Sensex and Nifty. At the end of the trading session, the Sensex declined 0.16 per cent, while the Nifty fell 0.34 per cent.

The BSE Sensex opened today at 74,309.16, down 593.43 points, or 0.79 per cent. Immediately after the opening, selling pressure intensified, dragging the index down 742.43 points, or 0.99 per cent, to 74,160.16. Following this decline, buyers stepped in aggressively, leading to a gradual improvement in the Sensex.

Amid sustained buying in the market, the index recovered 756.99 points from the day's low shortly before the close and briefly moved into positive territory, rising 14.56 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 74,917.15. However, selling pressure returned during the final 10 minutes of trading. As a result, the Sensex slipped 135.39 points from the day's high and eventually closed at 74,781.76, down 120.83 points, or 0.16 per cent.

Like the Sensex, the NSE Nifty also opened on a weak note, declining 207.50 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 23,270.30. Selling pressure immediately after the opening pushed the index down another 246.40 points, or 1.05 per cent, to 23,231.40. Thereafter, reports of a recovery in crude oil prices in the international market helped improve sentiment and triggered a recovery in the Nifty.

Encouraged by the improvement in crude oil prices, investors stepped up buying across sectors, giving the index an upward bias. Supported by sustained buying, the Nifty recovered 216.70 points from its intraday low shortly before the end of trading and reached 23,448.10. At this level, selling pressure once again emerged, pulling the index down by nearly 50 points. The Nifty finally closed at 23,398.10, down 79.70 points, or 0.34 per cent.

During the day's trading session, metal and realty stocks remained under sustained selling pressure. The BSE Metal Index fell 2.40 per cent amid heavy selling. Similarly, the Realty Index plunged more than 2 per cent. Auto, capital goods, consumer durables, FMCG, healthcare, oil and gas, and public sector enterprise indices also closed in negative territory.

On the other hand, banking and IT stocks remained firm on the back of buying support. Despite the broad-based selling pressure, the Nifty Banking Index closed 0.24 per cent higher. Likewise, the Nifty IT Index gained 0.11 per cent at the close. The broader market also witnessed sustained selling, with the Nifty Midcap Index declining 0.26 per cent and the Smallcap Index falling 0.58 per cent.

The sustained selling pressure in the broader market resulted in a decline of more than Rs 3.5 lakh crore in investors' wealth. The market capitalisation of companies listed on the BSE fell to Rs 481.56 lakh crore (provisional) at the end of today's trading session, compared with Rs 485.07 lakh crore at the close of the previous trading session on Thursday. Thus, investors lost approximately Rs 3.51 lakh crore in today's trading.

A total of 3,226 stocks were actively traded on the NSE during the day. Of these, 1,220 stocks closed in the green with gains, while 2,006 ended in the red with losses. Similarly, among the 30 Sensex constituents, 11 stocks closed higher and 19 declined. Of the 50 Nifty constituents, 12 closed in positive territory, 37 ended lower and one remained unchanged.

At the end of today's trading session, HDFC Bank, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Life and Wipro emerged among the top five gainers among the market heavyweights, advancing 2.08 per cent, 1.97 per cent, 1 per cent, 0.73 per cent and 0.66 per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel, Eicher Motors, Tata Steel and ONGC figured among the top five losers, declining 3.21 per cent, 2.99 per cent, 2.17 per cent, 2.02 per cent and 2.01 per cent, respectively.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar