The Indian benchmark indices closed lower as the Sensex ended trading at 85,694.96 or 25 points lower and the Nifty ended trade at 26,204.85 or 10 points lower.
In the 30-share BSE Sensex, the top gainers included stocks such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Kotak Bank, State Bank of India and Hindustan Unilever. Meanwhile, the laggards included stocks like Maruti, Titan, Tata Steel, NTPC and ICICI Bank.
Previously, the BSE Sensex opened the day near 85,650, taking a hit of more than 50 points, while the NSE Nifty50 started trading below the 26,200 mark, slipping 25 points, as of 9:15 AM.
In the morning session, both benchmarks pared their losses before trading in green. By 9:20 AM, the Sensex surpassed 85,800 and the Nifty crossed 26,200.
Global Markets
With Wall Street shut for the Thanksgiving holiday, Indian equities moved on domestic cues ahead of the Q2 GDP data. Market sentiment remained broadly positive, supported by expectations of interest-rate cuts by both the US Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of India, as well as renewed optimism over a potential US-India trade agreement, said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd.
Across Asia, trading signals were mixed. South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index all traded lower, while China’s Shanghai SSE Composite was the only major index in positive territory. US markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving break.
Foreign Outflows
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned net sellers again, offloading equities worth Rs 1,255.20 crore on Thursday. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), however, continued to lend support, buying shares valued at Rs 3,940.87 crore, exchange data showed.
