Mumbai: On Wednesday, Sensex tanked 517.11 points to 74,667.51 in early trade; Nifty dropped 152.45 points to 23,475.80. Indian benchmark equity indices erased their intra-day gains and closed lower on Tuesday as weakness in banking, financial, and metal stocks weighed on investor sentiment. The Sensex declined 114.19 points, or 0.15 per cent, to close at 75,200.85.
According to IANS, The Nifty settled 31.95 points, or 0.14 per cent, lower at 23,618. Commenting on Nifty technical outlook, experts said that a sustained move above the 23,700–23,800 region will be essential to strengthen recovery momentum toward the psychological 24,000 mark, where stronger selling pressure is likely to emerge. Infosys led the gainers' pack. HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, and TCS were among the top gainers on the same index. The Indian rupee weakened sharply during the session, falling 25 paise to touch a fresh low of 96.61 against the US dollar.
The currency eventually settled at 96.53 per dollar, compared to its previous close of 96.36. Sectorally, banking and financial shares remained under pressure throughout the session. The Nifty Private Bank index emerged as the worst-performing sectoral index, while the Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services indices also underperformed the broader market.
However, some sectors managed to buck the weak trend. The Nifty IT, Nifty Realty and Nifty Chemical indices ended higher and outperformed the benchmark indices. Broader markets showed resilience despite weakness in frontline indices. The Nifty MidCap index rose 0.91 per cent, while the Nifty SmallCap index gained 1.17 per cent during the session.
Meanwhile, Rupee traded weaker by around 10 paise near 96.53, as elevated crude oil prices and continued pressure on capital flows kept the currency under stress. “The broader trend remains weak, with rupee expected to trade in a range of 96.25–97.00 in the near term," an analyst stated.
