New Delhi, 24 July (H.S.): The domestic stock market witnessed a highly volatile trading session on Friday, marked by a sharp decline in the first half and a strong recovery later in the day. The market opened on a weak note, and heavy selling pressure soon dragged both the Sensex and Nifty indices down by more than 1.10 per cent.

However, buying activity emerged after 11 am, helping the equity market stage a strong recovery from the day’s lows. Despite the recovery, the Sensex and Nifty ended the session with a loss of 0.43 per cent.

The BSE Sensex opened at 75,708.19 points, declining 638.20 points or 0.89 per cent. Soon after trading began, buyers stepped in, helping the index recover 287.54 points from the opening level and touch 75,995.73 points.

However, the buying momentum failed to sustain for long, and fresh selling pressure pushed the index lower again. Continuous selling dragged the Sensex down by 916.96 points or 1.20 per cent to 75,474.43 points shortly after 11 am.

After this decline, buying interest returned to the market, leading to a gradual improvement in the index. Supported by renewed buying, the Sensex recovered 736.52 points from the day’s low and reached 76,210.95 points around 2 pm.

However, another round of selling emerged in the market, resulting in some weakness towards the close. After the full day’s trading, the Sensex slipped nearly 150 points from the day’s high and ended 331.62 points lower at 76,059.77 points.

Similar to the Sensex, the NSE Nifty opened 203.25 points or 0.85 per cent lower at 23,666.35 points. Shortly after opening, buying support helped the index recover nearly 100 points to reach 23,763.55 points.

However, broad-based selling pressure later dragged the Nifty lower. Continuous selling pushed the index down by 263.30 points or 1.10 per cent to 23,606.30 points shortly after 11 am.

Following this, buyers returned, and the index recovered gradually. Supported by sustained buying, the Nifty gained 217.30 points from the day’s low and reached 23,823.60 points around 2 pm.

Towards the end of the session, selling pressure resurfaced, causing the index to slip 56.15 points from its day’s high. The Nifty finally closed 102.15 points lower at 23,767.45 points.

During the day’s trading, automobile sector stocks witnessed heavy selling pressure, causing the Nifty Auto index to close 1.10 per cent lower. Besides, indices related to metals, energy, real estate, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, capital goods, consumer durables and public sector enterprises also ended in the red.

On the other hand, media sector stocks witnessed consistent buying interest, helping the Nifty Media index gain 1.97 per cent. IT, PSU Bank and FMCG indices also ended the session with gains.

The broader market also remained under pressure. The Nifty Midcap index closed 0.10 per cent lower, while the Smallcap index ended the day with a decline of 0.32 per cent.

The decline in the stock market resulted in a fall of more than Rs 90,000 crore in investors’ wealth. The market capitalisation of companies listed on the BSE declined to Rs 475.69 lakh crore (provisional) after Thursday’s trading, compared with Rs 476.61 lakh crore on the previous trading day. This resulted in an estimated loss of around Rs 92,000 crore for investors.

During the day, 2,970 stocks were actively traded on the NSE. Of these, 1,383 stocks ended in the green with gains, while 1,587 stocks closed lower. Among the 30 Sensex constituents, 10 stocks ended higher and 20 declined. In the Nifty 50 pack, 17 stocks closed with gains, while 33 ended in losses.

Among the major stocks, HCL Technologies emerged as the top gainer, rising 2.11 per cent, followed by Wipro (1.32 per cent), Cipla (1.26 per cent), ITC (0.76 per cent) and HDFC Life (0.74 per cent).

On the losing side, Bajaj Finserv declined 2.60 per cent, Eternal fell 2.47 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra dropped 2.11 per cent, Shriram Finance declined 2.02 per cent and Tata Consumer Products slipped 1.78 per cent, making them the top five losers of the day.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar