Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed with losses in a choppy trade on Thursday as investors preferred a cautious approach ahead of inflation and industrial production data to be released later in the day.
Unabated foreign fund outflows also hit the investor sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 147.47 points or 0.25 per cent to settle at 59,958.03. During the day, it declined 473.18 points or 0.78 per cent to 59,632.32.
The broader NSE Nifty fell 37.50 points or 0.21 per cent to close at 17,858.20.
From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel and ITC were among the major laggards.
UltraTech Cement, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Maruti, Nestle and HDFC were among the major winners.
Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green.
Equity exchanges in Europe were trading higher in mid-session deals. Markets in the US ended in the positive territory on Wednesday.
"The US inflation data expected tonight will be market moving," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.41 per cent to USD 83.01 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth ₹3,208.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.