Sensex, Nifty Resume Decline After A Day's Breather

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes resumed their decline after a day's breather, led by losses in Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Infosys. For most part of the day, benchmarks traded on a flat note and extended losses in last hour of trade as energy and oil & gas shares came under selling pressure. The Sensex fell as much as 189 points at the lowest point of the day.

The Sensex ended 153 points or 0.37 per cent lower at 41,170 and the NSE Nifty 50 index dropped 45 points or 0.37 per cent to settle at 12,081.

The domestic markets will remain closed for Maha Shivratri holiday on Friday.

Eight of 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE ended lower led by the S&P BSE Energy and IT indexes nearly 1 per cent decline. S&P BSE Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and FMCG indexes also declined 0.6-0.7 per cent each.

On the other hand, S&P BSE Metal index was top gainer, up nearly 1 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed larger peers as the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indexes rose 0.4 and 0.5 per cent each respectively.

Cipla was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell 2.4 per cent to close at Rs 437. Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Indian Oil, Nestle India, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Auto, BPCL and UltraTech Cement also declined 1-2 per cent each.

On the flip side, IndusInd Bank, Zee Entertainment, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Power Grid, ONGC, Hindalco and Coal India were among the gainers.