At the close of market hours, Sensex was down 73.08 points at 35246.27, while the Nifty ended lower by 25.20 points at 10716.50.
After remaining rangebound through the day, equity benchmarks on Thursday ended the day on a lower note, but the Nifty managed to hold on to 10,700-mark. The Sensex managed to close around 70 points lower.
The day began on a positive note as the Sensex opened 100 points higher, while the Nifty too traded above 10,750-mark. But selling pressure among sectors such as PSU banks, metals and pharma dragged the indices through the afternoon. Weak moves on the midcap index also hurt the market; the Nifty Midcap index ended over 1.5 percent lower.
Among sectors, selling was also seen banks, automobiles as well as infrastructure stocks. The Nifty Energy index was the sole index to end in the green.
At the close of market hours, Sensex was down 73.08 points at 35246.27, while the Nifty ended lower by 25.20 points at 10716.50. The market breadth was negative as 783 shares advanced, against a decline of 1873 shares, while 144 shares were unchanged.
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ONGC and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers among both indices, while Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Tata Motors have ended as top losers.
Federal Bank was one of the top stocks in focus, which ended 12 percent lower after the bank reported 43.5 percent year-on-year (YoY) drop in net profit at Rs 145 crore for the March quarter. Increase in provisions and weaker asset quality took a toll during the quarter.
Shares of JSPL ended 7 percent lower after the company widened its losses to Rs 424 crore. Higher expenses and finance costs weighed on the results.
Some retail names were in focus as well as investors looked to play on the Walmart-Flipkart deal. Future Retail ended over 7 percent higher as reports stated that the company was looking to sell 10 percent in the firm to a global retailer.
An order win for a NHAI project in Tamil Nadu helped Welspun Enterprises end the day 11 percent higher.
Among earnings reactions, Asian Paints will report its numbers later during the day. The stock ended over a percent higher. Meanwhile, Titan has closed the day almost half a percent lower ahead of its March quarter results announcements.
In case of global markets, Asian indices markets closed with mild gains even as oil prices traded higher. The Nikkei 225 edged higher by 0.39 percent. The Topix was up 0.27 percent by the end of the day.
Meanwhile, investors in Europe kept a watch on monetary policy meeting by the UK’s central bank. Stocks there were trading mixed.