Indian equity benchmarks NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex ended Thursday's volatile session lower. Oil, gas and financial shares ended with losses, while IT shares ended in the green. Infosys ended 0.8 percent higher after reporting its December quarter earning. Nifty Midcap 100 ended 0.3 percent lower, and Nifty Smallcap 100 ended flat.
The Sensex fell 473.2 points or 0.8 percent to 59,632.3, before ending at 59,958. The Nifty50 moved within a range of 17,761.6 - 17,945.8 in intraday trade before ending 0.2 percent lower at 17,858.2. Nifty Bank ended 150.4 points or 0.4 percent lower at 42,082.2.
A total of 25 stocks in the Nifty50 basket finished in the red, with Divi's Lab, Reliance, BPCL, Axis Bank and Tata Motors being the top losers.
Voltas, Motherson Sumi, Hindustan Petroleum, National Aluminium and Yes VBL led the Nifty Midcap index lower.
On the other hand, SBI Life, Ultratech Cement, HCL Tech, LT and Dr Reddy's were the top Nifty 50 gainers.
"Nifty remained volatile throughout the session with mostly a bearish bias as it closed below the crucial short-term moving average (50 EMA). The daily RSI is in bearish crossover on the daily timeframe, suggesting sluggish momentum. Over the short term, the trend is likely to remain sideways or negative. On the higher end, resistance is visible at 18,000. On the lower end, support is visible at 17,750," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.
Overall market breadth favoured the decline at close, as 1,612 stocks rose while 1,888 fell on BSE.
Rupee ended three paise higher from previous close at 81.55 vs US dollar.
Global markets
European markets rose on Thursday to the highest level since April 2022 as investors globally await US inflation data. Stoxx 600 index was last trading 0.4 percent higher.
S&P 500 futures were trading flat, suggesting a muted start ahead on Wall Street. Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday.
