Sensex at 79,600, Nifty at 24,200; Bank, Auto, Consumer, Oil drag 2-3%

Indian benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 were trading lower, after a choppy first hour of trade within a tight range between negative and positive territory on Friday, after opening with slight gains.

At 10 AM, the BSE Sensex was down 384.43 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 79,680, while the Nifty 50 was at 24,255, down 144.35 points, or 0.59 per cent.

Among the 30 constituent stocks of the BSE Sensex, less than half were trading in the red, with loses capped by IndusInd Bank, which was down 10 per cent, followed by NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, and JSW Steel.

In contrast, gains were led by ITC, which was up 3.15 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, Asian Paint, Hindustan Unilever, and HCLTech.

On the Nifty 50, 19 stocks were trading in the green, while the rest were down. Loses were capped by IndusInd Bank, which was down 10 per cent, followed by NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, and JSW Steel.

Meanwhile, ITC was the top gainer on the index, climbing 3.23 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, Britannia Industries, Asian Paint, and HCLTech.

Across sectors, the Nifty Bank, Auto, Metal, Realty, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas were among the indices trading with loses, while the FMCG index had climbed 1.45 per cent.

The Healthcare, Pharma, Financial Services, and PSU Bank were trading in the green.

In the broader markets, the Nifty Midcap 100 was down 0.29 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 marginally up by 0.04 per cent.

The markets had closed Thursday’s session on a muted note too, with a slightly negative bias. The BSE Sensex closed at 80,065.16, down merely 16.82 points or 0.02 per cent from its previous close, while the Nifty 50 had ended 36.10 points or 0.15 per cent lower at 24,399.40 levels.

26 out of 50 constituent stocks of Nifty 50 had ended in the green, led by Ultratech Cement, Shriram Finance, and Grasim.

Conversely, Hindustan Unilever, SBI Life, Hindalco, and were among the 24 constituent stocks of Nifty 50 that settled in red with loses of up to 5.81 per cent.

Nifty Midcap 100, and Nifty Smallcap 100 ended down by 0.33 per cent and 0.20 per cent respectively.

The Nifty PSU Bank index outperformed the other sectoral indices with gains of 1.22 per cent, followed by Bank Nifty, Private Bank, Financial Services, and Healthcare indices.

In contrast, Nifty FMCG index ended lower by 2.83 per cent, dragged by Hindustan Unilever, Colgate Palmolive, and Marico. Nifty Realty, IT, Media, Metal, and Consumer Durables indices also ended in red on Thursday.

That apart, mutual fund investors pumped in nearly Rs 17,100 crore into key equity schemes on a net basis over the past few weeks despite the heavy selloff in the markets, which showed resilience among investors to weather the current downturn.

Since reaching their all-time highs on September 26, benchmark equity indices — Sensex and Nifty 50 — have dropped nearly 7 per cent.