Sensex, Nifty end lower amid high volatility; bank, metal drag

Today has been a historic day in the markets as the market opened at record highs of 56,118 in the opening session. However, the end was absolutely the opposite as the benchmark indices saw a decline. Sensex slipped 489 points from its record highs of 56,118 to end at 55,629, lower by 162 points or 0.29% while Nifty50 also dropped below the 16,600 mark to settle at 16,568, declining 45 points or 0.28%. Earlier in the day, Nifty hit a new peak of 16,701. On the sectoral front indices ended mixed. Nifty FMCG index advance the most up by 0.69%, followed by the Nifty Pharma index rose 0.21% and Nifty IT continued its uptrend and ended with gains of 0.10%. On the downside, the Nifty Bank and Nifty Metal indices was the worst performer as they plunged 0.87% and 0.81%, respectively. Whereas the Nifty Realty index slipped 0.77%, Nifty Auto was down 0.20%. The broader market ended mix as on one end the BSE MidCap index advanced 0.26% to 23,121. While on the other end the BSE SmallCap index lost 0.18 and settled at 26,237. The market breadth remained negative as 2,087 shares declined compared to 1,094 advanced and 114 remained unchanged. European stocks fell across the board while Asian were in the green as investors monitored inflation data and looked ahead to the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting.