Markets close marginally down amid profit-taking

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex and Nifty closed marginally down in a rangebound session on Thursday as investors booked profits in heavyweights ahead of the announcement of key financial results for the June quarter.

Retreating from early highs, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed lower by 27.43 points or 0.03 per cent at 79,897.34. As many as 15 Sensex shares closed with gains while the rest declined.

The index climbed 245.32 points to hit a high of 80,170.09 in early trade but later lost momentum due to selling in index heavyweights.

The barometer hit a day’s low of 79,464.38, down by 460.39 points from the last close.

The NSE Nifty edged down 8.50 points or 0.03 per cent to settle at 24,315.95. The broader index gyrated between a high of 24,402.65 and a low of 24,193.75 in day trade.

Among Sensex shares, Bajaj Finance fell the most by 1.48 per cent. Mahindra & Mahindra (1.24 per cent), NTPC (1.14 per cent) and Nestle (1.05 per cent) were also among the major losers. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, RIL and Larsen & Toubro also declined.

On the other hand, FMCG major ITC rose the most by 1.64 per cent. Tata Motors, Asian Paints and Titan also gained..

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.57 per cent and midcap index went up by 0.34 per cent.

Among the indices, realty declined by 1.41 per cent, auto by 0.43 per cent and utilities by 0.19 per cent.

While, Oil & Gas jumped 1.68 per cent, while energy (1.20 per cent), services (1.13 per cent), industrials (0.31 per cent) and telecommunication (0.24 per cent) also advanced.

The rupee settled for the day 2 paise lower at 83.53 against the US dollar on Thursday, weighed down by a weak tone in domestic markets and a recovery in crude oil prices.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 583.96 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.21 per cent to $85.26 a barrel.