Stock market today: Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, declined for the second consecutive day on Thursday, primarily affected by losses in information technology stocks and continuous foreign fund withdrawals.
BSE Sensex ended the day down 553.12 points or 0.69 per cent, closing at 79,389.06, after dropping 654.25 points or 0.81 per cent to 79,287.93 during trading hours. The NSE Nifty declined by 135.50 points or 0.56 per cent to 24,205.35.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Asian Paints, Infosys, and Maruti Suzuki experienced significant declines.
Larsen & Toubro saw a notable increase of over 6 per cent following their announcement of a 5 per cent increase in consolidated profit after tax, reaching Rs 3,395 crore in the September 2024 quarter due to increased income.
Other companies showing positive performance included Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, JSW Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, and Sun Pharma.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold shares worth Rs 4,613.65 crore in the capital markets on Wednesday, according to market data.
Asian markets showed mixed results, with Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong declining while Shanghai showed gains.
European markets displayed negative trends, while US markets closed lower on Wednesday.
“Markets traded under pressure on monthly expiry day, slipping over half a per cent. Early weakness in IT majors weighed on sentiment, with other sectors joining the decline later in the session. However, resilience in select heavyweight stocks helped limit the overall losses,” Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
The global oil benchmark Brent crude increased by 0.36 per cent, reaching USD 72.81 per barrel.
