Indian equity markets deepened their losses in afternoon trading on Thursday, with the benchmark Sensex falling 298.40 points or 0.38 per cent to 77,972.88, while the broader Nifty declined 96 points or 0.41 per cent to 23,600.30 as of 12:35 PM.
The market breadth remained positive with 1,952 stocks advancing against 1,790 declines on the BSE, while 162 stocks remained unchanged. The session saw 53 stocks hitting their 52-week highs, while 55 touched their 52-week lows. Additionally, 173 stocks hit the upper circuit limit, while 177 stocks hit the lower circuit.
Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Bank shed 139.85 points or 0.28 per cent to trade at 50,203.20, while Nifty Financial Services declined 79.20 points or 0.33 per cent to 23,585.20. The Nifty Midcap Select index witnessed a sharper fall, dropping 73.55 points or 0.61 per cent to 12,019.35.
ITC Hotels emerged as the top gainer among Nifty stocks, rising 2.77 per cent to ₹173.19 with substantial volume of 47.31 lakh shares. Cipla followed with a 2.39 per cent gain to ₹1,471.20, while BPCL added 1.26 per cent to ₹264.55. Dr Reddy’s and HDFC Life also posted gains of 1.25 per cent and 1.14 per cent respectively.
On the downside, Titan Company led the losses, falling 2.05 per cent to ₹3,419.25. ONGC declined 1.99 per cent to ₹256.45, while Shriram Finance dropped 1.97 per cent to ₹560.05. BEL and Tata Steel were also among the top losers, declining 1.59 per cent and 1.48 per cent respectively.
Trading volumes remained healthy, with Tata Steel recording the highest volume among the top losers at 1.06 crore shares, followed by BEL at 89.79 lakh shares. Among gainers, BPCL saw significant activity with 92.28 lakh shares changing hands.
The market’s performance indicated a continuation of the cautious sentiment that prevailed since morning, with the Nifty Next 50 also declining 229.95 points or 0.36 per cent to trade at 63,782.85. The total number of stocks traded on BSE stood at 3,904, reflecting active market participation despite the overall negative trend.
