New Delhi: Indian stock indices continued to fall for the third straight session on Thursday, dragged by losses in pharma stocks. Investors became cautious amid renewed fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The benchmark BSE Sensex fell 59 points or 0.10 percent to close at 57,833; while the wider NSE Nifty moved down 28 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 17,276. Both indices fluctuated between gains and losses throughout the session before moving into the red.
Mid and small cap stocks ended negative as the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.91 percent and small cap stocks fell 1.06 percent.
11 of the 15 sector meters – compiled by the National Stock Exchange – were in the red. Nifty Pharma, Nifty Auto and Nifty IT underperformed the index, falling 0.87 percent, 0.63 percent and 0.44 percent, respectively.
On the stock-specific front, ONGC was the biggest loser as the stock cracked 2.18 percent to Rs 168. Divi’s Lab, Cipla, UltraTech Cement and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) were also among the laggards.
In contrast, Coal India, SBI Life, Bajaj Auto, HDFC and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) were among the winners.
On BSE, overall market size was weak as 1,170 stocks rose while 2,182 fell.
On the 30-share BSE platform, UltraTech Cement, M&M, Infosys, Reliance Industries and Nestle India suffered the most losses with a whopping 2.03 percent loss.
Both domestic exchanges have witnessed a seesaw since the beginning of this week, receiving signals from global markets.
Meanwhile, foreign investors have netted $6.41 billion in Indian stocks so far this year, compared to net purchases of $5.82 billion in the same period last year.