Indian benchmark indices continued their losing streak for the fifth consecutive session on Thursday. The Nifty closed below 22,500 on the May F&O (Futures & Options) expiry day, indicating the bearish sentiment prevailing on Dalal Street.

The Sensex dropped by 617.30 points, or 0.83%, to close at 73,885.60, while the Nifty fell by 216 points, or 0.95%, to 22,488.70. Over the course of May, the Nifty50 index has lost 0.4%.

The market opened weak, and losses deepened throughout the day, pushing the Nifty closer to 22,400 amid widespread selling, except for banking stocks. However, some buying in the last hour of trading helped reduce the losses slightly.

The biggest losers were Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation, Wipro, and Titan Company. The top gainers included ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Among sectoral indices, the Bank index managed to gain 0.5%, while the Auto, FMCG, Metal, IT, and healthcare indices witnessed declines ranging from 1% to 2%. Both the BSE midcap and smallcap indices fell by 1.2%.

Despite the downturn, more than 100 stocks on the BSE reached their 52-week highs, including Aditya Birla Fashion, BF Utilities, Coromandel International, EID Parry, Emami, Heritage Foods, Indian Bank, Jupiter Wagons, KNR Construct, Mazagon Dock, Samvardhana Motherson, Saregama India, and Suprajit Engineering.