Finance
Stock Market Highlights, Thursday, December 19, 2024:
Benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 fell sharply, ending down by more than 1% apiece, matching Wall Street’s drop following US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments.
The 30-share Sensex fell 964.15 points, or 1.20%, to conclude Thursday’s trading session at 79,218.05. The index moved from 79,516.17 to 79,020.08.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty50 fell by 247.15 points, or 1.02 percent, to 23,951.70. The Nifty50 traded within the band of 24,004.90 to 23,870.30.
The day finished in favour of bears, with 36 of the Nifty50’s member equities closing in the red. The leading laggards were Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, JSW Steel, and Grasim, which ended lower by up to 2.33 per cent. On the other hand, Dr Reddy’s, Cipla, BPCL, Sun Pharma, and Apollo Hospital were among the 14 constituent stocks that ended higher by up to 4.04 per cent.
Broader markets followed the benchmarks, with the Nifty Midcap100 and Nifty Smallcap100 indices closing down 0.28 percent and 0.51 percent, respectively.
The fear index, India VIX, which measures market volatility, ended up 0.95 percent at 14.51 points.
All sectors indices ended in the red, with the exception of Nifty Pharma and Healthcare, which finished in the green. Among others, all NSE banking indices, as well as IT, Financial Services, Consumer Durables, and Metal, fell by 1% each.
Source: BS
