New Delhi, 05 February (H.S.): A day ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy announcement, Indian equity benchmarks snapped a three-day winning streak on Thursday, succumbing to heavy selling pressure exacerbated by weekly expiry volatility.

The Sensex closed 503.76 points or 0.60% lower at 83,313.93, while the Nifty 50 settled 133.20 points or 0.52% down at 25,642.80.

Defence, metals, and IT sector stocks faced sustained selling throughout the session, dragging down broader indices like automobiles, capital goods, consumer durables, FMCG, public sector enterprises, and technology. Conversely, oil & gas, PSU banks, and pharmaceuticals attracted buying interest.

The downturn eroded investor wealth by over ₹2.63 lakh crore. BSE-listed firms' market capitalization shrank to ₹466.53 lakh crore (provisional) from ₹469.16 lakh crore on Wednesday.On BSE, active trading spanned 4,366 shares: 2,726 advanced, 1,477 declined, and 163 ended flat. NSE saw 2,910 stocks traded, with 964 gainers and 1,946 losers.

Among Sensex's 30 components, 26 fell and 4 rose; Nifty's 50 stocks split with 19 up and 31 down.The Sensex opened 60.15 points weaker at 83,757.54 but plunged further amid relentless selling, hitting an intraday low of 83,151.62—a 666.07-point drop by 2 PM.

Late buying sparked a 150-point recovery, yet it closed 503.76 points off.Nifty mirrored the slide, opening 20.10 points lower at 25,755.90 and never regaining green territory amid seller dominance. It bottomed near 25,579.50 (down 196.50 points) before clawing back over 60 points to end 133.20 points weaker.

Top gainers included Trent Ltd (up 2.96%), Max Healthcare (1.50%), Tata Steel (1.21%), JSW Steel (0.94%), and ONGC (0.84%). Leading losers were Hindalco Industries (down 3.06%), Eternal (2.48%), Bharti Airtel (1.65%), Bharat Electronics (1.43%), and SBI Life Insurance (1.17%).

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar