Sensex closes 297.50 points down, Nifty ends at 12,126.50; ONGC, Vedanta, NTPC major gainers

Mumbai: Indian equity benchmark indices on Thursday (December 26) ended lower for the third consecutive day with the Sensex down 297.50 points or 0.72% at 41163.76, while Nifty closed down 88 points or 0.72% at 12,126.50. Major gainers on the Nifty were ONGC, Vedanta, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, and JSW Steel, while Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Adani Ports and Sun Pharma were the top losers.

About 1312 shares have advanced, 1179 shares declined, while 172 shares remained unchanged. On the sectoral front, except metal all other indices ended lower led by the PSU bank, infra, pharma, IT and energy.

Notably, Indian rupee ended at 71.12 a dollar, down 9 paise compared to Thursday's close of 71.03 a dollar.

During early hours on Thursday, equity benchmark indices were flat in line with Asian markets due to weak volumes after the Christmas holiday. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 7 points to 41,455 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 3 points at 12,212. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed. Nifty metal rose by 0.47 per cent but Nifty pharma slipped by 0.29 per cent and PSU bank by 0.21 per cent. 

Among stocks, Tata Steel gained by 1.2 per cent to Rs 468.80 per share while JSW Steel moved up by 1.1 per cent. The other prominent gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv and Yes Bank. However, Dr Reddy`s, Zee Entertainment, Bharti Airtel, Bharti Infratel and ONGC traded with marginal losses.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets traded flat following Christmas Day. The Shanghai Composite was up by 0.28 per cent and the Nikkei 225 in Japan was 0.44 per cent higher.

(With Agency Inputs)