Delhi, 18 July (H.S.): The trading session today commenced with market weakness, as both the Sensex and Nifty indices faced selling pressure after an initial recovery. The Sensex dipped below 82,000, while the Nifty fell below 25,000, closing down by 0.61 percent and 0.57 percent, respectively.

Considerable selling was observed across sectors, particularly in public sector enterprises, banking, and pharmaceuticals. Additional declines were noted in automobile, capital goods, consumer durables, FMCG, oil and gas, and tech indices, although the metal and IT sectors saw slight buying. The broader market suffered, with the BSE Midcap Index down by 0.62 percent and the Smallcap Index by 0.64 percent.

Investor assets plummeted by over ₹2.5 lakh crore, leading to a market capitalization drop to ₹458.30 lakh crore from the previous ₹460.87 lakh crore, resulting in an approximate loss of ₹2.57 lakh crore for investors during today’s trading. Active trading involved 4,208 shares on the BSE, with 1,660 ending in gains and 2,390 in losses, while the NSE saw 2,651 active shares, producing 938 gainers and 1,713 losers. Among the Sensex, 7 shares gained while 23 lost, and within the Nifty, 15 outperformed and 35 underperformed.

Starting at 82,193.62 points, the BSE Sensex initially rose to 82,334.75 points on buying support before slipping to 81,608.15 points by 11 a.m. due to continued selling. The index managed to recover about 150 points toward the close, finishing at 81,757.73 points. The Nifty opened at 25,108.55 points, briefly climbing to 25,144.60 points but dropping to 24,918.65 points amid selling pressure. It closed at 24,968.40 points after a minor recovery.

Top gainers included Wipro, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, ONGC, and Nestle, while Axis Bank, Shriram Finance, Bharat Electronics, HDFC Life, and Bharti Airtel were among the top losers.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar