New Delhi: Benchmark Sensex declined by nearly 412 points in a volatile session on Thursday due to selling in banking, FMCG and auto shares triggered by escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.
The 30-share Sensex declined by 411.97 points or 0.51 percent to close at 80,334.81 with 23 of its constituents ending in the red. The index opened higher and traded in a range in the first half of the session. The index hit a high of 80,927.99 in late-morning deals.
However, the barometer lost momentum in the afternoon session as selling emerged in FMCG, auto, and select banking shares. It tanked 759.17 points or 0.94 percent to hit a low of 79,987.61 in the pre-close session.
The NSE Nifty closed lower by 140.60 points or 0.58 percent to 24,273.80. Intra-day, it fell 264.2 points or 1 percent to 24,150.20.
Indian Armed forces foiled attempts by the Pakistani military to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India using drones and missiles last night and destroyed a Pakistani air defence system in Lahore, officials said on Thursday.
The Pakistani military attempted to target Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, they said.
These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter Unmanned Aircraft System (Grid and Air Defence systems), the defence ministry said.
"Today morning Indian armed forces targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. Indian response has been in the same domain with the same intensity as Pakistan," the ministry said in a readout.
"It has been reliably learnt that an air defence system at Lahore has been neutralised," it said.
In a strong retaliation to the Pahalgam massacre, India's armed forces early on Wednesday destroyed nine terror sites including that of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) using deep strike missiles in a 25-minute-long "measured and non-escalatory" mission.
From the Sensex firms, Eternal, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, Power Grid and State Bank of India were among the laggards.
Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Titan, HCL Tech, Tata Motors, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services were the gainers.
The BSE midcap gauge dropped 1.90 percent and smallcap index declined 1.05 percent.
"The Indian equity market experienced profit-booking by the end of the trading day due to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, marked by increased cross-border exchanges.
"The FOMC policy meeting provided little reassurance, as the FED expressed concerns that aggressive US tariffs could fuel inflation and raise unemployment,”Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
However, the global market remains stable and positive, buoyed by expectations of an imminent US trade deal with the UK and preliminary indications of trade talks with China.
"Amid escalating tensions with Pakistan, Indian equity markets ended lower on Thursday, with benchmarks slipping into the red after a volatile session," Vikram Kasat, Head - Advisory, PL Capital, said.
Among sectoral indices, realty tanked 2.60 percent, oil & gas (1.98 percent), auto (1.92 percent), power (1.86 percent), utilities (1.85 percent), commodities (1.67 percent), consumer discretionary (1.58 percent) and services (1.57 percent).
IT and BSE Focused IT were the only gainers.
As many as 2,548 stocks declined while 1,349 advanced and 135 remained unchanged on the BSE.
"Ongoing uncertainty continues to make traders cautious, potentially clouding the prevailing trend amid lingering geopolitical tensions," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,585.86 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled in the positive territory.
Markets in Europe were trading with gains. US markets ended higher on Wednesday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1 percent to USD 61.75 a barrel.
After gyrating between highs and lows during the day on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark ended 105.71 points or 0.13 percent higher at 80,746.78. The 50-issue Nifty of NSE advanced by 34.80 points or 0.14 percent to settle at 24,414.40.
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