Closing bell: Benchmark indices close in red, dragged majorly by finance and banking stocks

The domestic markets took a breather after Monday’s surge and ended lower.

The domestic markets took a breather after Monday’s surge and ended lower. After a flat start, the benchmark indices hovered in a range and ended around the day’s low, dragged by heavyweights and also, due to a lack of cues from other Asian markets, many of which were shut for a public holiday. NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market volatility, plunged 2.14 per cent to 19.21 levels.     

BSE Sensex, after an amazing rally, slipped 435 points and ended at 60,176 levels. Sensex MidCap index jumped 317 points and closed the day at 25,072 levels. Meanwhile, BSE SmallCap too surged to the levels of 29,582, up by 400 points. On BSE Sensex today, the top stocks were Titan, ITC, NTPC, TCS, Nestle India, and Asian Paints. On the other hand, the top loser were Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Reliance Industries, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.     

Nifty 50 index closed below the 18,000 mark at 17,957, falling by 96 points. Bank Nifty on the flip side, fell by 567 points and ended the day at 38,067. The top gaining stocks were Adani Ports, NTPC, Tata Motors, Power Grid Corporation of India, and Tata Consumers. The major losing stocks were HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Induslnd Bank.  

The total stocks traded today were 3,507, out of which, 2,347 advanced and 1,054 stocks declined. There were 106 stocks that were unchanged. The number of stocks that were locked in the upper circuit was 12 while only three stocks got locked in their lower circuit. The number of stocks that have made a new 52-week high is 173 while there were 10 stocks that made a fresh 52-week low today.