The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower for second straight session on Thursday on the back of weakness in Infosys, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance. For most part of the day, the benchmarks traded on a flat note as gains in auto makers like Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra were offset by losses in Infosys, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Larsen & Toubro.
The Sensex ended 164 points or 0.31 per cent lower at 52,319 and Nifty 50 index declined 42 points or 0.26 per cent to close at 15,689.
Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty IT index's 0.6 per cent fall. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Private Bank and Realty indices also ended with a negative bias.
On the other hand, auto shares witnessed buying interest after auto makers reported strong sales in the month of June. Nifty Auto index rose 0.75 per cent and FMCG index also rose 0.4 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares ended mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.4 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.59 per cent.
Among the individual shares, Vodafone Idea slumped as much as 15 per cent to hit intraday low of Rs 8.46 after it reported loss of Rs 7,022.8 crore in January-March period as against loss of Rs 11,643.5 crore during the corresponding period a year ago.
Infosys was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 1.2 per cent to close at Rs 1,562. Wipro, Shree Cements, Bharat Petroleum, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank also fell between 0.7-1 per cent.
On the flipside, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki and NTPC were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,640 shares ended higher while 1,569 closed lower on the BSE.
