Market closed in red after losing gains; Sensex slipped 200 points, Nifty below 22400

The stock market closed in the red yesterday before Holi. The major benchmarks closed after erasing the early market gains. The benchmark BSE Sensex closed lower by 200 points yesterday after erasing early gains. It fell for the fifth straight market session after selling in auto, IT, and realty stocks.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 200.85 points, or 0.27%, at 73,828.91, with eight stocks closing in profit and 22 stocks closing in loss. The index began the day in the green and hit a peak of 74,401.11 in the late morning. The index was unable to sustain the gains due to selling in individual blue chip stocks and later fell by 259.17 points, or 0.35%, to hit a bottom point of 73,770.59. The NSE Nifty closed lower by 73.30 points, or 0.33%, at 22,397.20. The benchmark hit a session bottom point of 22,377.35 in the course of the day, down by 93.15 points, or 0.41%.

Among the 30 Sensex companies, Zomato, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki India, Adani Ports, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, UltraTech Cement and Infosys were among the laggards. In contrast, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, NTPC, Tata Consultancy Services, PowerGrid, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Sun Pharmaceuticals gained.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, "A short trading week and sell-off in the US short market has led to volatility in global markets. However, Indian benchmark indices have held on to the negative trend with resilience and healthy outperformance."

Ajeet Mishra, Senior Vice President (Research), Religare Broking Ltd, said, "Markets remained range bound and closed slightly lower on the weekly expiry day. Though positive global cues fuelled the rally initially, selling pressure in heavyweights across sectors dragged the Nifty into the red." Asian markets witnessed a decline in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul. European markets closed with gains in mid-session deals. US markets closed with a positive trend on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the price of global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.34% to $70.71 per barrel.

According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,627.61 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,510.35 crore. On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 72.56 points lower at 74,029.76. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty closed 27.40 points lower at 22,470.50.