Profit booking continued for the fifth straight session. Nifty closed around 24,400 amid F&O expiry day volatility.

Sensex and the Nifty 50 closed in the red on Thursday, tracking weak global cues.

Sensex closed 109 points, or 0.14%, lower at 80,039.80, while the Nifty 50 ended at 24,406.10, down 7 points, or 0.03%.

The indices opened on a negative note and extended the losses as the day progressed. Buying was seen at lower levels and helped recovery from the day’s low and closed with marginal losses.

On Nifty 50, the top gainers were Tata Motors (5.97%), ONGC (4.83%), and BPCL (3.67%).

Shares of Axis Bank (5.08%), Nestle (2.50%), and ICICI Bank (2.14%) closed as the top losers.

On the BSE, over 240 stocks touched their 52-week highs, including Tata Motors, ONGC, SBI Life Insurance, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Petronet LNG, IDBI Bank, Deepak Nitrite, Federal Bank, CG Consumer, and Max Financial, among others.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices fell 0.22% and 0.14%, respectively.

On the sectoral front, auto, capital goods, power, oil & gas, healthcare, and media rose by 0.5-3%, while bank, IT, metal, realty, and telecom shed 0.5-1%.

Nifty Bank fell 0.83%, while the Private Bank index declined 0.92%. The Nifty PSU Bank index lost 0.58%.

Consumer Durables was down 0.84%, Realty by 0.83%, and Financial Services by 0.50%.

On the other hand, Nifty Oil and Gas was up by 2.22%, Auto by 1.26%, Pharma by 0.94%, and Media by 0.81%.

Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign investors sold nearly $1 billion worth of Indian equities in the two days since the government raised taxes on derivatives trades and on capital gains from equity investments in its annual budget.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth 81.06 billion rupees ($968 million) on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Shares of Tata Motors Limited surged over 5% to scale a fresh record high of Rs 1,084 after international brokerage Nomura upgraded the stock with a ‘buy’ recommendation.

Analysts have assigned a target price of Rs 1,294. This implies an upside potential of 26% from the current market levels. In the past month, the shares of the company have rallied 13%.

Shares of Suzlon Energy rallied over 2.21% to ₹62.01 after brokerage firm JM Financial raised the target price for Suzlon Energy’s stock to ₹71 from the previous ₹54.

Following a nearly 4% drop in Nasdaq overnight, top European markets in the UK, France, and Germany lost 1-2% during the session as weak corporate earnings, uncertainty over rate cuts, and news related to the US Presidential elections kept investors wary.