Sensex closes lower after three sessions, ends FY22 with over 18% gains

Indian equity market ended lower on Thursday, after a three-day rally, dragged down by profit-taking in Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank. Sensex closed 115.48 points or 0.20 per cent lower at 58,568.51 and Nifty declined 33.50 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 17,464.75. For the fiscal 2021-22, Sensex zoomed 9,059.36 points or 18.29 per cent, while the Nifty rallied 2,774.05 points or 18.88 per cent.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securitiess  said," Nifty seems to be consolidating after a rise. In the new F&O expiry series and a new fiscal year, we could see some upward momentum in the first few days.  Whether this will take Nifty beyond the 17795 mark will be interesting to watch. On down moves 17344 could be a support."

M&M, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, ITC and Titan were among the top gainers, rising up to 1.95%.

Reliance Industries Limited, Wipro, Dr Reddy's, UltraTech Cement, Infosys were among the major losers, falling up to 1.46%.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "Domestic market opened on a positive note taking cues from global market and FIIs buying. However, the mood turned negative in line with global peers following inconclusive Russia-Ukraine talks.  A plunge in Oil prices on reports that the US will release substantial petroleum reserves & cheaper oil offered to India by Russia will be positive for India in the future"

BSE mid cap and small cap indices rose 70 points and 86 points, respectively.

The market breadth was negative with 1500 shares ending higher against 1896 stocks in the red. 111 shares were unchanged.

Market cap of BSE-listed firms stood at Rs 264.06 lakh crore. Pharma shares were the top sectoral losers with their BSE index falling 239 points to 239.50.

In the previous session,  Sensex surged 740.34 points or 1.28 per cent to settle at 58,683.99. Similarly, the NSE Nifty climbed 172.95 points or 1 per cent to settle at 17,498.25.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity exchanges in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong ended lower, while Seoul settled with gains. Markets in Europe were mostly trading lower. Stock exchanges in the US ended on a negative note in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude tumbled 5.09 per cent to $107.68 per barrel on reports that the US was considering releasing a record 180 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves.