Mumbai, August 19: The Indian stock market closed lower on Wednesday. By the end of the trading session, the Sensex fell by 325.78 points, or 0.42%, to settle at 76,909.68. Meanwhile, the Nifty dropped 76.60 points, or 0.32%, to close at 24,078.30.
The market witnessed a broad decline. The Nifty India Defense and Nifty Energy indices were among the top losers, down 1.49% and 1.18%, respectively. Other sectors, including Nifty Media, Nifty PSU, Nifty Infra, Nifty Commodities, Nifty FMCG, Nifty India Manufacturing, Nifty Oil and Gas, Nifty Healthcare, Nifty Auto, Nifty Services, Nifty Pharma, and Nifty Consumption, also ended in the red.
On the other hand, Nifty IT and Nifty Consumer Durables managed to close in positive territory.
Selling pressure was observed across large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap stocks. The Nifty Midcap 100 index fell by 130.65 points, or 0.21%, to 63,408.75, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined by 101.70 points, or 0.51%, to 19,707.15.
In the Sensex pack, HCL Tech, Eternal, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, Titan, TCS, Infosys, and Trent were gainers. Conversely, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, L&T, ITC, HUL, BEL, Indigo, SBI, Axis Bank, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, and HDFC Bank were among the losers.
Experts noted that caution prevailed in the market ahead of the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes. Investors are concerned that the Fed may adopt a stringent stance against inflation. Additionally, the end of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire without a diplomatic resolution has kept crude oil prices and bond yields elevated, increasing risks for investors.
They further mentioned that weakness in Asian markets led to significant selling in Indian equities. However, value buying and support from a weaker rupee helped IT stocks perform better.
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