NIFTY50 and SENSEX trade lower; Nestle India and Bajaj Finance top losers

After a positive start, India's equity benchmark indices, NIFTY50 and SENSEX, failed to sustain early gains on Thursday, extending their losses as the day progressed. In the afternoon session, the NIFTY50 was down by 0.26%, trading at 24,261 level, while the SENSEX has fallen by 0.35% to 79,645 level. The Nifty Bank underperformed on Thursday, declining by 0.61% or 315 points, and slipping below its important 20-day moving average (20-DMA) for the first time since June 4.

On other hand, Banking & Financial stocks, along with index heavyweight Reliance Industries, weighed heavily on the index. With the weekly expiry on the cards, volatility is expected to be a defining feature of Thursday’s session. Current option data suggests that the expiry is likely to be below the 24,300 level.

In the broader markets, the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices have added 0.20% and 0.42%, respectively, indicating a relative outperformance. The market breadth remains stock with 1,435 stocks advancing and 871 stocks declining.

Sector-wise, six sectoral indices were trading in the green, and six were in the red. Nifty Media (+1.17%) was the top performing sector, with the majority of the media stocks trading positively. On the flipside, Nifty Realty (-1.24%) was the top loser, with all its constituents trading in the red.