Benchmark equity indices resumed their declines on Thursday to record their lowest closing in more than five months as sentiment around the globe was weakened due to tensions in Russia-Ukraine and as investors assessed Nvidia's quarterly results.
The NSE Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex closed at the lowest level in over five months on Thursday. The Nifty 50 ended 168.60 points or 0.72% down at 23,349.90, and the Sensex closed 422.59 or 0.54% down at 77,155.79.
Most of the Indian tech stocks, however, rose. Nifty IT was among the two sectoral indices that gained along with Nifty Realty.
Globally, market sentiment was weakened after Ukraine said Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile during an overnight attack. Intraday, both Nifty and Sensex fell around 1% to hit their lowest since June 10 and June 24, respectively.
Shares of Adani Ports and SEZ and Adani Power pared losses from their steep falls after the group rejected "baseless" allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the $250 million bribery scheme.
"The series of lower tops and lower bottoms continues, and in today's trade, the index added one more bearish candle, which indicates the strong grip of bears," said Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Shares.
"Selling is seen on every rise, but for a trend reversal, the index has to clear the hurdle of 23,800," he said. "Until then the trend will remain weak, and breaking below today's low will open the doors for the next important support of 23,000."
Share prices of Adani Enterprises Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd., ITC Ltd., and State Bank Of India Ltd. contributed the most to the fall.
While gains in those of ICICI Bank Ltd., Power Grid Corp. Of India, Infosys Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., and Axis Bank Ltd. cushioned the fall.
Market breadth was skewed in favour of sellers. Around 2,735 stocks declined, 1,235 stocks advanced, and 95 stocks remained unchanged on BSE.
The BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices ended 0.37% and 0.67% lower, respectively.
On BSE, 16 sectoral indices declined, and five advanced out of 21. BSE Realty rose the most, while the BSE Services declined the most.w
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