On the BSE, market breadth was generally quite weak as 1,170 stocks gained while 2,182 stocks declined.
New Delhi: Indian stock indexes on Thursday continued to fall for the third consecutive session as pharmaceutical shares lost. Investors turned cautious amid renewed fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Benchmark BSE Sensex fell 59 points, or 0.10%, to close at 57,833; while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 28 points, or 0.16%, to 17,276. Both indices fluctuated between gains and losses throughout the session before falling in the red.
Mid- and small-cap stocks ended on a negative note as the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.91% and small-cap stocks fell 1.06%.
Eleven out of 15 industry gauges – compiled by the National Stock Exchange – are colored red. Nifty Pharma, Nifty Auto and Nifty IT underperform this metric, falling by 0.87%, 0.63% and 0.44%, respectively.
On the stock-specific front, ONGC was Nifty’s biggest loser as the stock rose 2.18% to 168. Divi’s Lab, Cipla, UltraTech Cement and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) were also among the laggards. .
In contrast, Coal India, SBI Life, Bajaj Auto, HDFC and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) were among the gainers.
On the BSE, market breadth was generally quite weak as 1,170 stocks gained while 2,182 stocks declined.
On the 30-stock BSE platform, UltraTech Cement, M&M, Infosys, Reliance Industries and Nestle India suffered the most with their shares sliding as much as 2.03%.
Both domestic exchanges have seen a spike in trading since earlier this week, taking their cues from the global market.
Meanwhile, foreign investors have sold a net $6.41 billion in Indian stocks so far this year compared to a net purchase of $5.82 billion in the same period last year.
