Sensex falls 112 points, Nifty ends below 18,050; HDFC twins, Bajaj Finance top losers

Benchmark indices ended lower in trade today, tracking losses in index-heavyweights HDFC twins, Kotak Bank and Bajaj Finance, despite a positive trend in global markets. After a volatile trading session, Sensex ended 112.16 points or 0.19 per cent lower at 60,433.45. Nifty fell 24.30 points or 0.13 per cent to 18,044.25.

HDFC Bank was the top Sensex loser, falling 1.66 per cent, followed by HDFC, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, Maruti, Kotak Bank and PowerGrid.

M&M, SBI, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were among the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 5.21%.

Mahindra & Mahindra was the top Sensex gainer after the firm reported a multifold rise in its net profit for July-September quarter.

Net profit rose to Rs 1,432 crore in the July-September quarter against Rs 162 crore in the year-ago period.

"After a positive opening, the domestic market traded lower as private banking stocks were under pressure following dull global markets," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Despite the passage of the long-awaited infrastructure bill, the gains in the US market were capped as investors cautiously awaited the US inflation data, he stated.

Consumer durables and metal shares led the losses today. BSE consumer durables and metal indices ended lower by 202 points and 188 points, respectively.

BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices zoomed 215 points to 26,520 and 193 points to 29,320, respectively.

Market cap of the BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 268.12 lakh crore today. On November 8, the market cap stood at Rs 267.40 lakh crore.

The market breadth was positive with 1,948 shares ending higher against 1,370 stocks in the red. 161  shares were unchanged.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 860 crore on November 8, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,911 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended in a positive note, while Tokyo was in the red. Major indices in Europe were also trading with gains in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.91 per cent to $84.19 per barrel.