Sensex closes 21 points higher, Nifty ends below 15,700; banking, metal stocks top losers

Sensex closes 21 points higher, Nifty ends below 15,700; banking, metal stocks top losersThe S&P BSE Sensex recovered over 850 points from its intrday low to close at 52,344 and Nifty 50 index declined 8 points to settle at 15,683.35.

At 12:29 hours, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 51,935.11, down 388 points. The index touched an intraday low of 51,601.11. Meanwhile, the Nifty 50 index was trading at 15,564.25, down 127 points.

ONGC was the top Sensex loser shedding around 4 per cent, followed by NTPC, M&M, Power Grid and Nestle India.

HUL, Bajaj Auto and Bharti Airtel were the top Sensex gainers rising up to 2-3%.

Of 30 Sensex stocks, 18 ended in the red.

BSE midcap and small cap indices fell 158 points and 220 points, respectively.

Metals and PSU banking stocks were the major sectoral losers with their BSE indices 371 points and 164 points, respectively.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong and Seoul ended on a positive note, while Shanghai and Tokyo closed lower.

Stock exchanges in Europe were largely trading with losses in mid-session deals.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.73 % lower at USD 72.55 per barrel.