New Delhi, 05 January (H.S.):

India’s stock markets ended the day on a weak note after a volatile session marked by sharp swings. The BSE Sensex opened lower, while the NSE Nifty started with a marginal positive bias. After initial gains, selling pressure built up, pulling both indices into the red by the close.

Despite the day’s volatility, the Nifty managed to hit a new all-time high during intraday trading, briefly crossing 26,373.20 points. However, profit booking and sustained selling in IT, oil & gas, and energy stocks dragged the indices down. At the close, Sensex was down 0.38% at 85,439.62, and Nifty slipped 0.30% to 26,250.30.

Sectoral indices ended mixed. Banking, healthcare, public sector enterprises, and tech sectors closed lower, while FMCG, realty, and metals saw buying interest.

Broader markets remained flat, with the BSE Midcap Index up 0.05% and the Smallcap Index gaining 0.07%.Investor wealth eroded by nearly ₹48,000 crore as the market capitalization of BSE-listed firms dropped to ₹480.76 lakh crore from Friday’s ₹481.24 lakh crore.

Trading activity was active, with 4,471 stocks traded on the BSE. Of these, 1,723 advanced, 2,542 declined, and 206 remained unchanged. On the NSE, 2,874 stocks traded, with 1,115 rising and 1,759 falling. Among Sensex stocks, 14 gained and 16 fell; in Nifty, 24 rose and 26 fell.

Top gainers included Nestle (up 2.73%), Bharat Electronics (2.64%), Ashok Leyland (2.02%), UltraTech Cement (1.58%), and Tata Steel (1.55%). Top losers were HDFC Bank (down 2.41%), Wipro (2.12%), Infosys (2.07%), HCL Technologies (1.99%), and ONGC (1.40%).

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar