Indian benchmark equity indices ended lower on Thursday as losses in IT, FMCG and financial stocks weighed on investor sentiment amid continued monitoring of the geopolitical situation in West Asia.
The Nifty settled at 23,654.7, slipping 4.3 points or 0.02 per cent, while the Sensex declined 135.03 points, or 0.18 per cent, to close at 75,183.36.
Shares of Bajaj Finance, Infosys and Tech Mahindra emerged among the top laggards on the Sensex.
On the Nifty index, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra and Hindustan Unilever were among the major losers.
In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap index ended 0.04 per cent lower, while the Nifty SmallCap index outperformed the benchmarks and closed 0.63 per cent higher.
Sectorally, the Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT and Nifty Financial Services indices witnessed the sharpest declines during the session.
On the other hand, the Realty and Cement sectors outperformed the broader market.
The Nifty Cement index surged more than 2 per cent by the close of trade, emerging as one of the strongest sectoral performers of the day.
Meanwhile, the volatility index, ‘INDIAVIX’, eased by 3.5 per cent to 17.80 levels and any further cooling in volatility may provide some comfort to the bulls.”
(IANS)
