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| Photo Credit: SHASHI ASHIWAL
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on July 24, extending corrections from their all-time highs for the second session in a row due to massive selling in heavyweight stocks.
Foreign fund outflows and surging crude oil prices also weighed on equity markets even as traders were awaiting the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision to be announced this week.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 299.48 points or 0.45% to settle at 66,384.78. During the day, it touched the intra-day peak of 66,808.56 and hit the lowest level of 66,808.56.
The NSE Nifty fell by 72.65 points or 0.37% to end at 19,672.35. The broader index moved between the range of 19,782.75 and 19,658.30.
Both the indices had settled more than 1% lower in the previous session on Friday, snapping their six-day record-breaking rally. The BSE benchmark tumbled 887.64 points or 1.31% to settle at 66,684.26 on Friday. NSE Nifty fell by 234.15 points or 1.17% to end at 19,745.
On Monday, 18 of the 30-stock Sensex closed the session in green while on the 50-stock index Nifty, 25 stocks ended the trading with gains.
From the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, PowerGrid and Bajaj Finserve gained up to 2.01 per cent.
On the other hand, bellwether stocks such as ITC, Kotak Mahindra, Tech Mahindra and Reliance were the laggards. ITC shares closed the session with a loss of 3.87% lower and Reliance ended 1.92% lower.
Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets were mixed with Nikkei gaining 1.23 %, while Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite declined by 2.13% and 0.11%, respectively.
Europe markets were also trading mixed. German benchmark DAX was up 0.08% while London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.06 per cent. The CAC 40 of France was off 0.18%.
The US markets ended higher on Friday with S&P 500 gaining 0.03%.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.73% higher at $81.66 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were sellers on Friday as they offloaded equities worth ₹1,998.77 crore, according to exchange data.