Stock Market Settles In Red: Sensex Falls 296 Points, Nifty Below 24,800

Indian equity benchmarks declined for the second consecutive session on July 31, with the Nifty closing below the 24,800 mark amid broad-based selling pressure. The BSE Sensex ended 296.28 points lower, or 0.36 per cent, at 81,185.58, while the NSE Nifty fell 86.70 points, or 0.35 per cent, to settle at 24,768.35. Market breadth favored the bears, with 2,365 stocks declining, 1,490 advancing, and 135 remaining unchanged on the BSE.

On the Nifty, top gainers included HUL, Jio Financial, Eternal, JSW Steel, and ITC. Major laggards were Adani Enterprises, Dr. Reddy's Labs, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, and Sun Pharma.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices dropped 0.7 per cent each, underperforming the benchmarks. Sectorally, FMCG was the lone bright spot, rising 1.4 per cent, while IT, metal, oil & gas, PSU banks, pharma, realty, and telecom sectors declined between 0.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent.

Previous Trading Session

Indian stock markets wrapped up Wednesday’s trading session with modest gains. The BSE Sensex rose by nearly 150 points to close at 81,482, while the NSE Nifty50 advanced around 34 points, ending slightly above the 24,850 mark. Despite the upward close, the overall momentum remained restrained. Among the 30 Sensex components, notable gainers included L&T, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Maruti, and Bharti Airtel. On the flip side, stocks such as Tata Motors, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and HUL ended the day in the red.

(more to come)

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