Indian Benchmark indices nursed losses on Thursday, amid profit booking in large and mid-cap stocks with BSE Sensex shed 360 points, or 0.51 per cent, to end at 70,701. The Nifty50, on the other hand, settled around the 21,350-mark at 21,353, down 101 points or 0.47 per cent .
The indices hit intraday lows of 70,319 and 21,247, respectively. In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index reversed gains and ended 0.36 per cent lower. The BSE SmallCap index, on the other hand, outshone peers with 0.54per cent gains led by RITES, Oswal Greentech, Steel Exchange India, and RailTel.
The rupee ended at 83.11 per Dollar against Wednesday’s close of 83.13 per Dollar.
The Nifty IT index was the worst hit dragged by a 4 per cent fall in Tech Mahindra shares after it posted a weak set of Q3 financials.
Bank Nifty, too, slipped in the red to 44,892 amid weakness in private sector lenders like Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Only 16 stocks could manage to end with gains in the Nifty 50 index. Shares of Bajaj Auto (up 5.23per cent), Adani Ports (up 2.71 per cent ) and NTPC (up 1.91 per cent ) closed as the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index.
Today’s volatility could also be attributed to the expiry of January futures and options (F&O) contracts. Foreign investors have net sold shares worth Rs 19,300 crore, so far, this month.
Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 6,934.93 crore. However, domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth net Rs 6,012.67 crore on January 24, 2024, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.
The sideways consolidation is expected to continue in the next few sessions. Rising treasury yields also contributed to the weak sentiment.
Overnight, the yield on the benchmark US 10-year Treasury note was up more than 3 points at 4.1 per cent , while yield on the 2-year Treasury note rose more than 3 basis points to 4.38 per cent .