New Delhi, August 29(HS):
The domestic stock market closed sharply lower for the third straight trading day today, with the Sensex slipping below the 80,000 mark amid sustained selling pressure. The day began on a weak note and witnessed extreme volatility in the early session before bears took firm control post-noon, triggering broad-based declines across sectors.
By market close, the Sensex fell by 0.34% while the Nifty shed 0.30%. Heavy selling dominated IT, metal, automobile, and realty stocks, with notable weakness also seen in banking, healthcare, oil & gas, public sector undertakings, and the tech index. Conversely, buying interest was seen in consumer durables, capital goods, media, and FMCG stocks. The broader market was similarly pressured, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ending 0.41% and 0.29% lower, respectively.
The market selloff soured investor sentiment as stock investors incurred massive losses of over ₹1.37 lakh crore in one trading session. The total market capitalization of BSE-listed companies declined to ₹443.80 lakh crore from ₹445.17 lakh crore recorded on the previous trading day.
A total of 4,237 shares traded actively on the BSE, with 1,905 closing higher and 2,178 declining, while 154 remained unchanged. On the NSE, out of 2,749 actively traded shares, 1,167 ended in profit and 1,582 in loss. Among the Sensex’s 30 constituents, 16 stocks closed higher and 14 lower; similarly, in the Nifty 50, 24 shares gained while 26 declined.
The Sensex opened at 80,010.83 points, down 69.74 points. Early tussles between bulls and bears pushed the index to a high of 80,310.74 points, up by 230.17 points, before selling dominated in the second half causing a steep intraday plunge of nearly 570 points to a low of 79,741.76 points. The index recovered some losses to settle at 79,809.65 points, down by 270.92 points.
Following a similar trajectory, the Nifty opened at 24,466.70 and climbed to an intraday high of 24,572.45 points before succumbing to intense selling and ending at 24,426.85, down 74.05 points after a late recovery.
Top gainers included ITC (+2.21%), Bharat Electronics (+1.53%), Shriram Finance (+1.50%), Trent Ltd (+1.19%), and Asian Paints (+1.19%). On the losing side, Mahindra & Mahindra (-2.91%), Reliance Industries (-2.07%), Infosys (-2.03%), Apollo Hospitals (-1.53%), and Adani Enterprises (-1.34%) led the pack.
Today’s session underscored investor caution in the face of persistent selling pressures and market volatility, leaving the key indices at three-day lows.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
