-Despite market weakness, investors gain ₹1.17 lakh crore
New Delhi, May 26 (HS): After a strong rally on Monday, domestic equity markets witnessed profit booking today amid rising concerns over renewed tensions between the United States and Iran and the monthly expiry of derivative contracts for five NSE indices and stocks. The trading session remained highly volatile throughout the day.
After fluctuating sharply during the day, the stock market finally closed in the red. The Sensex fell over 700 points from its intraday high, while the Nifty slipped more than 200 points from the day’s peak. At the close of trading, the Sensex declined 0.63 per cent and the Nifty ended 0.49 per cent lower.
Banking, realty, and consumer durables stocks witnessed sustained selling pressure throughout the session. IT, healthcare, public sector enterprises, and tech indices also closed in negative territory. On the other hand, metal and capital goods stocks saw consistent buying interest. Auto, FMCG, and oil & gas indices also ended in positive territory.
In the broader market, buying activity continued, with the Nifty Midcap index closing 0.54 per cent higher and the Smallcap index rising 0.35 per cent.
Despite the overall weakness in benchmark indices, sustained buying in midcap and smallcap stocks led to an increase of over ₹1 lakh crore in investor wealth. The market capitalisation of companies listed on the BSE rose to ₹468.91 lakh crore (provisional) compared to ₹467.74 lakh crore in the previous trading session. This resulted in investors gaining approximately ₹1.17 lakh crore in wealth.
A total of 4,385 stocks were actively traded on the BSE, of which 2,169 advanced, 2,033 declined, and 183 remained unchanged. On the NSE, 2,973 stocks were traded, with 1,402 advancing and 1,571 declining. Among Sensex constituents, 8 stocks ended higher while 22 closed lower. In the Nifty 50, 18 stocks gained and 32 declined.
The BSE Sensex opened lower by 264.82 points at 76,224.14. Soon after opening, buying interest pushed the index higher, and it recovered more than 400 points from the opening level, turning positive to reach an intraday high of 76,627.04, up 138.08 points.
However, profit booking led to renewed selling pressure, pulling the index sharply lower. Just before the close, the Sensex fell 717.36 points from its intraday high to touch a low of 75,909.68, down 579.28 points. In the final moments, some recovery due to settlement-related buying helped the index close at 76,009.70, down 479.26 points.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty opened lower by 27.60 points at 24,004.10. Early buying pushed it higher to an intraday high of 24,089.80, a recovery of more than 85 points from the opening level. However, selling pressure soon dragged the index lower.
Before the close, the Nifty slipped 204.35 points from its intraday high to a low of 23,885.45, down 146.25 points. It finally recovered slightly from the day’s low due to settlement-related buying and closed at 23,913.70, down 118 points.
Among major stocks, Adani Enterprises rose 4.20 per cent, TMPV gained 3.31 per cent, Tech Mahindra advanced 1.62 per cent, Nestlé rose 1.06 per cent, and Eternal gained 1.01 per cent, emerging as the top gainers. On the other hand, Apollo Hospitals declined 1.73 per cent, Wipro fell 1.50 per cent, Bharti Airtel lost 1.49 per cent, Trent declined 1.40 per cent, and TCS slipped 1.39 per cent, featuring among the top losers.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
