Market Close: Sensex Dips 256 pts, Nifty Ends Below 19,300 On Monthly F&O Expiry

Sensex Today: The market again witnessed last-hour profit booking, which erased all the intra-day gains and also broke its three-day winning run on August 31 in the volatile session amid the August F&O expiry.

At close, the Sensex was down 255.84 points or 0.39 per cent at 64,831.41, and the Nifty was down 93.70 points or 0.48 per cent at 19,253.80.

On the back of positive global cues, the market started in the green and extended the gains in the initial hours but selling in the mid-session erased all the gains and closed near the day’s low.

The Nifty50 index shed 2 per cent in the August series.

“Benchmark indices ended in the red today on the back of concerns regarding the 9 percent deficit in the Monsoon as several states have witnessed scarce rainfall this month across many districts. However, we did witness a lot of stock-specific activity across sectors on a day characterised by volatility. A notable feature of today’s trade was the activity seen in the Small-Cap Index which managed to end the day in green,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

The biggest losers on the Nifty included Adani Enterprises, BPCL, Adani Ports, Eicher Motors and Britannia Industries, while gainers were Maruti Suzuki, Cipla, HDFC Life, Titan Company and Hindalco Industries.

A mixed trend was seen on the sectoral front, with oil & gas, power, FMCG and bank down 0.5-1.3 per cent, while realty, metal, capital goods and information technology gained 0.2-0.7 per cent.

The BSE midcap index ended flat while the smallcap index rose 0.8 per cent.

Global Cues

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index popped 0.8 per cent, and mainland Chinese stocks were in negative territory. Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.58 per cent, and Australia’s ASX200 added 0.1 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi, however, fell 0.26 per cent as industrial production slid 8 per cent year-on-year in July.

Overnight, the S&P500 index climbed 0.38 per cent in the US, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.11 per cent after US annual gross domestic product growth for the second quarter was downwardly revised on Wednesday to 2.1 per cent from the previous 2.4 per cent forecast. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.54 per cent.