Indian markets continued the downward trend on the first day of trading in February. The benchmark indices were down by about 0.5 per cent with the BSE Sensex closing at 19781, down 114 points and the NSE Nifty ending the day at 5998 shed 36 points.

On the BSE, stocks of the consumer durables sector were up the most at 1.8 per cent. This was followed by stocks of the healthcare and FMCG sector which were up 0.8 and 0.2 per cent respectively.

“The market breadth changed from positive to negative as there were 954 stocks advancing against 1149 stocks declining. In the international front, the European stocks were trading higher ahead of the US payroll data and manufacturing data. The US future index was also trading higher,” said Alex Mathews, Head Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The BSE Realty Index declined the most at 1.2 per cent. The auto sector stocks declined by about one per cent and the banking sector index were down 0.8 per cent.

Among the Sensex stocks, the top five gainers were Maruti, Cipla, Dr Reddys, Tata Power and Bajaj Auto. The top five laggards were Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries.

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