Markets recover most of intra-day losses; end marginally lower

 Helped by last minute buying activity in some of the index heavyweights, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex managed to trim most of its early declines. File.
| Photo Credit: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

Equity benchmarks recovered most of their intra-day losses and ended marginally lower on December 20 amid buying in index majors Reliance Industries and Tata Consultancy Services.

Helped by last minute buying activity in some of the index heavyweights, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex managed to trim most of its early declines and ended lower by 103.90 points or 0.17% at 61,702.29.

During the day, it had tumbled 703.51 points or 1.13% to 61,102.68.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 35.15 points or 0.19% to end at 18,385.30.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance and Tata Steel were among the major laggards.

Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank ended in the green from the 30-share pack.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong closed lower.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the negative territory in mid-session deals. The U.S. markets had ended lower on Monday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude inched up 0.65% to $80.32 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net ₹538.10 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.