Sensex, Nifty’s Eight-Day Rally Ends; Banks Biggest Drag

The eight-day rally witnessed by India's benchmark indices came to a halt during the weekly options expiry session. Global sentiment remains cautious over deteriorating Covid-19 situation.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.54% lower at 43,357 while the NSE Nifty 50 index ended 0.4% lower at 12,693.

The Nifty PSU Bank index was the biggest laggard in today's session, ending 2.3% lower. Also ending lower was the Nifty Bank, which shed 570 points or 2% out of the 5,000 point surge it saw over the last eight trading sessions. Three out of the top five laggards on the Nifty were banking stocks.

Sectors that bucked the trend were the Nifty FMCG index, which gained 1.3% along with the Nifty Media and Nifty Realty index, which ended with gains of 0.7% each.

After days of underperformance, the broader markets managed to outperform the benchmark indices in today's session. The Nifty Midcap index ended 0.6% higher while the Smallcap index gained 1.3%.

India Volatility Index ended 6.4% lower at 20.62 after gaining for two straight days.

1,115 stocks on the NSE ended with gains while 713 stocks declined at the close of trade.