New Delhi, 26 December (Udaipur Kiran) – The domestic share market ended lower for the second consecutive day due to foreign investor selling, rupee depreciation, rising crude oil prices, and profit booking in select sectors. The market opened weak and, after a brief buying interest in the first 15 minutes, selling pressure intensified, dragging both Sensex and Nifty down throughout the day. Sensex closed with a decline of 0.43 percent, while Nifty fell by 0.38 percent.

During the day, there was intermittent buying in metal, commodity, public sector enterprises, and FMCG stocks. However, automobile, IT, and pharmaceutical sectors faced strong selling pressure. Banking, capital goods, consumer durables, oil and gas, and tech indices also ended in the red. The broader market witnessed continuous selling, with the BSE Midcap index falling 0.18 percent and the Smallcap index dropping 0.34 percent.

The market weakness erased over ₹1.06 lakh crore from investors’ wealth. Market capitalization of BSE-listed companies dropped to ₹473.94 lakh crore from ₹475 lakh crore on the previous trading day.

Active trading was seen in 4,379 shares on BSE, where 1,745 shares ended higher, 2,455 declined, and 179 remained unchanged. On NSE, 2,869 shares traded actively with 1,106 closing in profit and 1,763 in loss. Among Sensex’s 30 stocks, only six gained while 24 declined. On Nifty, 16 of the 50 stocks closed higher and 34 lower.

Sensex opened at 85,225.28 points, down by 183.42 points. It briefly rose to 85,378.51 points after opening but selling pressure pushed it down to 84,937.82 points by 3 PM. Late buying helped recover around 100 points, closing at 85,041.45 with a loss of 367.25 points.

Nifty started at 26,121.25 points, down 20.85 points, climbed to 26,144.20 points early on, but selling dragged it down to 26,008.60 points. Buyers returned near close, helping Nifty recover about 35 points to end at 26,042.30 with a loss of 99.80 points.

Among the market leaders, Titan gained 2.12 percent, Nestle 1.02 percent, Hindalco Industries 0.98 percent, Cipla 0.65 percent, and NTPC 0.48 percent. On the losing side, Asian Paints fell 1.40 percent, Shriram Finance 1.38 percent, Tech Mahindra 1.15 percent, Bajaj Auto 1.15 percent, and Sun Pharmaceuticals 1.01 percent.

(Udaipur Kiran)