Benchmark indices ended lower on Thursday with Nifty around 24,550 amid selling across the sectors. Sensex closed at 81,263.84 points, down 262.30 points or 0.32 per cent, while Nifty closed at 24,538.85 points, down 102.95 points or 0.42 per cent. Throughout the day, Nifty reached a high of 24,675.25 and a low of 24,527.95 while Sensex fluctuated within a range of 81,680.97 and 81,211.64.

Some of the key gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports while losers were NTPC, Hero MotoCorp, HUL, Coal India and BPCL. Adani Enterprises (1.91 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.55 per cent), Tech Mahindra (1.52 per cent), Indusind Bank (1.33 per cent), and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (0.83 per cent) were some of the key gainers.

The top losers were NTPC (2.71 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (2.35 per cent), Hero Motocorp (2.01 per cent), Coal India (1.88 per cent), and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (1.72 per cent).

BSE Midcap index shed 0.5 per cent and Smallcap index was down 1 per cent.

On the BSE, over 250 stocks touched their 52-week high including, Chalet Hotels, EID Parry, Max Healthcare, Muthoot Finance, Cofirge, Tech Mahindra, Vedanta,Persistent Systems, Kaynes Technologies, Info Edge, Dixon Technologies, LTIMindtree, Infosys, Firstsource Solustions, HCL Technologies, Wipro, MphasiS, among others.

Among the sectors, except IT, all other ended in the red with Media index down 2 per cent and FMCG index shedding 1 per cent. Nifty FMCG was the top laggard among the sectors, ending down by 1.09 per cent, dragged by Hindustan Unilever, Godrej Properties, and Colgate Palmolive.

IT stocks surged in trade, taking the Nifty IT index to a record high, up around 1 percent after an in-line U.S. inflation data reinforced expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut next week. India VIX, which gauges the volatility in the markets, ended down 0.58 per cent at 13.19. The Indian rupee, which has remained volatile throughout the year, has depreciated 1.40 per cent so far in 2024.

Most of the Adani Group stocks traded with sharp gains, with Adani Green Energy shares leading the gains with its 6 per cent surge, leading to a jump in conglomerate’s m-cap by Rs 27,000 crore.

Shares of Bajaj Housing Finance fell over 6 per cent as the three-month shareholder lock-in period for anchor investors comes to an end. Shares of Nuvama Wealth Management worth Rs 2,100 crore were sold in a block deal on the exchanges with two Edelweiss group entities.