Sensex, Nifty retreat from record levels on profit-taking in IT, oil shares

A view of the National Stock Exchange. File
| Photo Credit: PTI 

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty retreated from record levels and closed lower in a volatile trade on Thursday due to profit-taking in financials, IT and oil shares after a two-day rally and negative trends in the U.S. and European markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 284.26 points or 0.45% to settle at 63,238.89. The BSE benchmark hit an intra-day all-time peak of 63,601.71 in initial deals. However, the benchmark index faced volatile trends and declined 322.52 points or 0.50% to a low of 63,200.63 during the day.

The NSE Nifty closed lower by 85.60 points or 0.45% to end at 18,771.25.

From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, Power Grid, NTPC, Infosys, Nestle, Reliance Industries and UltraTech Cement were the biggest laggards.

Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the major gainers.

“A negative trigger, from the global perspective, is the Fed chief Powell’s statement in the Congressional testimony yesterday that ‘the process of getting inflation back to 2% has a long way to go’. This indicates further rate hikes, perhaps two more, in this rate hiking cycle,” said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul ended in the green while Tokyo settled lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading lower. The U.S. markets ended in negative territory on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.39% to $76.05 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹4,013.10 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark climbed 195.45 points or 0.31% to settle at a record closing high of 63,523.15 on Wednesday. The Nifty advanced 40.15 points or 0.21% to end at its lifetime closing peak of 18,856.85.