New Delhi, July 25(HS): On the last trading day of the week, the domestic stock market experienced notable declines, starting with weakness as trading commenced. Initially, there was a brief competition between buyers and sellers, but within the first 15 minutes, sellers took complete control. This selling pressure continued, causing both the Sensex and Nifty indices to drop steadily. By the end of the day, the Sensex was down by 0.88 percent and the Nifty by 0.90 percent. Significant selling occurred in public sector enterprises, oil and gas, and metal sectors, with banking, IT, FMCG, consumer durables, capital goods, automobiles, and tech indices also closing lower. Conversely, the pharmaceutical sector exhibited some buying activity.

The broader market was similarly affected, as the BSE midcap index slipped by 1.46 percent, while the smallcap index fell by 1.88 percent. Overall, stock market investors lost over ₹6.5 lakh crore in wealth, reducing the market capitalization of BSE-listed companies to ₹451.59 lakh crore from ₹458.10 lakh crore on the previous trading day, representing a substantial loss of approximately ₹6.51 lakh crore.

During the day, 4,154 shares were actively traded on the BSE, with only 1,126 closing in the green and 2,886 declining. On the NSE, out of 2,654 traded shares, 475 ended positively while 2,179 faced losses. In the Sensex, only one out of 30 shares closed higher, whereas in the Nifty, 7 out of 50 shares managed gains. The BSE’s Sensex began at 82,065.76 points, down 118.41 points, and at its lowest, it dropped to 81,397.69 points before closing at 81,463.09 points after minor buying support. The NSE’s Nifty opened at 25,010.35 points, dropped to 24,806.35 points, and ultimately closed at 24,837 points. Among heavyweight stocks, Cipla and SBI Life Insurance saw gains, while Bajaj Finance and IndusInd Bank were prominent losers.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar