New Delhi, 07 July : The domestic equity markets snapped their four-session winning streak on Tuesday, ending the day in negative territory after witnessing volatile trading throughout the session. Although trading began on a strong note and buying momentum pushed the benchmark indices higher during the day, broad-based profit booking in the final half-hour erased the gains. At the close, both the Sensex and the Nifty settled 0.13 per cent lower.

 

Most sectoral indices remained under pressure throughout the trading session. Realty, metal and energy stocks witnessed the sharpest selling. Pharmaceutical, media, banking, automobile, capital goods, FMCG and public sector enterprise indices also ended in the red. In contrast, IT stocks attracted robust buying interest, helping the Nifty IT Index close 2.43 per cent higher.

 

The consumer durables and oil & gas indices also managed to finish in positive territory. Selling pressure persisted in the broader market as well, with the Nifty Midcap Index declining 0.30 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap Index ending 0.55 per cent lower.

 

The decline in the market wiped out nearly Rs 1.39 lakh crore from investors' wealth. The total market capitalisation of companies listed on the BSE fell to a provisional Rs 480.11 lakh crore at the close of trade, compared with Rs 481.50 lakh crore in the previous session, resulting in a notional loss of approximately Rs 1.39 lakh crore for investors.

 

A total of 4,397 stocks were actively traded on the BSE during the session. Of these, 1,599 advanced, 2,633 declined and 165 remained unchanged. On the NSE, 2,951 stocks witnessed active trading, with 1,018 ending higher and 1,933 closing lower. Among the 30 Sensex constituents, 14 stocks gained while 16 declined. Of the 50 Nifty constituents, 24 advanced and 26 ended in the red.

 

The BSE Sensex opened 176.09 points higher at 78,461.16. Initial profit booking weighed on the index briefly after the opening bell, but renewed buying during the first half of the session lifted it to an intraday high of 78,664.92, up 379.85 points, around noon.

 

However, profit booking gathered pace during the afternoon, intensifying sharply around 3 p.m. The benchmark tumbled 633.88 points from its intraday high to touch a low of 78,031.04, down 254.03 points from the previous close. Late buying during intraday settlement helped the index recover nearly 150 points from the day's low, allowing the Sensex to close 104.35 points lower at 78,180.72.

 

Similarly, the NSE Nifty opened 34.10 points higher at 24,464.45. Early selling dragged the index into negative territory within the first 20 minutes, touching 24,423.50. Fresh buying later pushed the benchmark to an intraday high of 24,530.90, up 100.55 points, around noon.

 

Selling pressure resurfaced in the latter half of the session, and shortly before the close the Nifty slipped 181.95 points from its day's high to touch 24,348.95, down 81.40 points. A late recovery driven by settlement-related buying helped the index regain nearly 50 points from the day's low before closing 31.65 points lower at 24,398.70.

 

Among the blue-chip gainers, HCL Technologies surged 3.00 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra at 2.92 per cent, Infosys at 2.84 per cent, Titan Company at 2.67 per cent and SBI Life Insurance at 2.49 per cent.

 

On the losing side, Trent Limited emerged as the biggest laggard with a decline of 12.44 per cent, followed by Adani Enterprises, down 3.10 per cent, Adani Ports, down 1.64 per cent, Bharat Electronics, down 1.50 per cent, and Cipla, which fell 1.39 per cent.