The 30-share pack Sensex on Thursday dropped 164.11 points or 0.31 per cent to close at 52,318.60 while its broader peer NSE Nifty slipped 41.50 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 15,680.
The domestic benchmark indices remained under pressure throughout the day and ended in the red for the fourth day in a row due to selling pressure in IT and Financial services stocks.
It appeared that investors were cautious about the increase in Covid-19 cases in Asia, including India. Despite relaxations in lockdown in the country, the manufacturing PMI reading shrunk to 48.1 in June from 50.08 in the previous month.
However, progress in vaccination and decrease in the number of Covid cases did bring some comfort to the investors. For instance the increase in auto sales in June helped the sector to remain positive in the trade.
Among the blue-chip companies, Dr Reddy’s Labs was the top gainer as it rose 2.75 per cent. The other gainers were Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma and ONGC.
Bajaj Finserv was the top loser in the Nifty pack, dropping 2.23 per cent. Among the others which ended in the red were Britannia, Infosys, Wipro, Shree Cement, BPCL, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra and Power Grid.
Broader Market indices ended on a mixed note and outperformed their headline peers, Nifty smallcap added 0.66 per cent and Nifty midcap went down 0.26 per cent. Nifty 500, the broadest index on NSE, went down 0.14 per cent at close.
From the midcap and smallcap indices, KEI Industries, Graphite India, Avanti Feeds, JSW Energy, Oil India and Deepak Nitrite emerged as the top gainers rising in the range of 4 to 10 per cent.
The sectoral indices on NSE was mixed. Nifty Pharma was the top gainer among the NSE’s sectoral gauges closely followed bty Nifty Auto. However Nifty IT fell 0.57 per cent at close followed by Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Realty.
The market breadth was in favor of gainers with 1639 stocks ending in green and 1570 others settling with cuts. A total of 403 securities hit a 52-week high mostly from small cap segment.
