New Delhi, June 18 (H.S.): Ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions, the domestic stock market showed signs of consolidation on Wednesday. Initial trading was weak, but buying support helped propel both the Sensex and Nifty indices higher briefly. However, selling pressure emerged within the first hour, causing both indices to retreat into negative territory. Ultimately, both closed down by 0.17 percent, with notable selling observed in public sector, IT, and metal shares. Declines were also seen across realty, energy, pharmaceuticals, capital goods, FMCG, oil and gas, and tech sectors, while banking, automobile, and consumer durables sectors attracted buying interest. BSE midcap and smallcap indices also fell by 0.34 percent due to overall market weakness, leading to a reduction in investors’ wealth by approximately ₹1.75 lakh crore and lowering the total market capitalization to ₹446.19 lakh crore from the previous day’s ₹447.91 lakh crore.

Throughout the trading session, 4,115 shares were actively traded on the BSE, with 1,531 gaining and 2,448 losing ground. On the NSE, out of 2,583 shares traded, 894 ended positively while 1,689 declined. Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 10 closed higher and 20 lower, while in the Nifty, 14 shares closed in the green and 36 in the red. The Sensex opened at 81,314.62 points, declining by 268.68 points. Although it rebounded to a high of 81,858.97 points shortly after due to buying momentum, profit booking quickly reversed that gain. By 2 PM, it had dropped to 81,237.01 points, but a late recovery saw it finish down by 138.64 points at 81,444.66 points. The Nifty likewise started at 24,788.35 points, rose momentarily to 24,947.55 points, but fell back to 24,750.45 points before recovering some losses to close at 24,812.05 points down by 41.35 points. Notable gainers included IndusInd Bank and Trent Limited, while TCS and Adani Ports were among the top losers.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar