Stock Market Today: Sensex edges lower 15 points, Nifty retreats from record highs to end flat

Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty edged lower in a volatile trade on Friday, reversing early gains due to selling in IT and select banking shares.

The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 15.44 points or 0.02% to close at 73,142.80 points with 17 of its constituents closing in the red and 13 in the green.

The index opened higher but later slipped into losses due to profit-taking by investors. The barometer oscillated between a high of 73,413.93 and a low of 73,022 during the day.

The broader Nifty of NSE closed lower by 4.75 points or 0.02% at 22,212.70 points as gains in FMCG, pharma and financial shares were offset by losses in IT and private bank shares.

The 50-share barometer scaled a record high of 22,297.50 in intra-day trade.

Among Sensex shares, HCLTech, Asian Paints, Maruti, JSW Steel, TCS, SBI, ITC and Bharti Airtel were the major losers.

On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, L&T and Wipro were the major gainers.

Reliance Industries rose by around 1% to hit a 52-week high intra-day. Its arm Reliance Jio Financial Services soared by more than 14.5% to hit a year’s high level, taking its market valuation to more than ₹2 lakh crore.

Global markets were mostly higher following sharp overnight gains in U.S. markets driven mainly by stunning December quarter results by technology company Nvidia.

The Shanghai Composite index added 0.6% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was unchanged. Tokyo’s markets were closed for a holiday. Germany’s DAX, the CAC 40 in Paris and FTSE 100 in London rose up to 0.1%.

In the domestic market, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) were net sellers on Thursday as they offloaded securities worth ₹1,410.05 crore.