Sensex, Nifty close in red; Adani Power declines by 5 per cent, Nestle jumps 4 per cent, UPL tumbles

Snapping their gaining streak, the domestic benchmark indices ended Thursday’s trading session in negative territory. Sensex closed down by 143.62 points or by 0.31 per cent at 45,959.88 per cent while Nifty ended at 13,478.30 levels, down by 50.80 points or 0.38 per cent.

During today’s trading session, FMCG stocks gained while some cement stocks fell as fair trade regulator, CCI initiated an investigation against some cement companies in the country regarding an alleged anti-competitive behaviour.

The shares of UPL tumbled after reports of a whistleblower claimed that the company’s promoters have siphoned off money.

In the global markets, Asian indices such as Hang Seng, Nikkei, and KOSPI declined by 0.35 per cent, 0.23 per cent, and 0.33 per cent, respectively whereas, Shanghai index closed flat with a positive bias. European indices such as FTSE 100, DAX, and CAC 40 were trading higher by 0.58 per cent, 0.14 per cent, and 0.37 per cent, respectively.

Sensex gainers included Nestle India that jumped 4.17 per cent, ITC surged 3.58 per cent, HUL gained 2.61 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank went up by 1.36 per cent, Larsen & Toubro increased by 0.78 per cent, Tata Steel gained by 0.65 per cent, ONGC inched up by 0.49 per cent, etc.

Sensex losers consisted of UltraTech Cement that plunged 3.27 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra slumped 2.50 per cent, HDFC Bank decreased by 1.42 per cent, IndusInd Bank declined by 1.34 per cent, Axis Bank fell by 1.10 per cent, Bajaj Finance went down by 1.04 per cent, NTPC declined by 1.02 per cent, etc.

Amongst sectoral indices on BSE, the FMCG index was the biggest gainer, up by 2.69 per cent while the Basic Materials index was the biggest loser, down by 1.35 per cent. Meanwhile, BSE Small-Cap index and BSE Mid-Cap index declined by 0.65 per cent and 0.57 per cent, respectively.