The Indian equity benchmark equity indices, Sensex and Nifty ended lower Thursday as selling force picked up in pharma, IT and banking stocks. The BSE benchmark Sensex closed 148.82 points or 0.37 percent lower at 40,558.49 whereas the NSE Nifty settled at 11,896.45, down 41.20 points or 0.35 percent. Broader indices outperformed the benchmarks as the Nifty Small-cap100 gained one percent and Nifty Mid-cap100 ended 0.62 percent higher. On the Sectoral watch on NSE,   Nifty Pharma, Nifty IT, Nifty Private Bank and Financial Services declined the most while Nifty Metal, Media, FMCG and Nifty Realty ended in the green.

Hero MotoCorp, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Titan company, and Hindalco were among the top Nifty50 losers while NTPC, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Indian Oil corp,  and Bajaj Finance were the top index gainers. Shares in pharma major Dr Reddy’s Lab eased 0.16 percent after the company announced that it has isolated all its data center services across the world after it detected a cyber-attack. Shares of Bajaj Auto slipped 0.6 percent after the company reported an 18.8 percent on-year decline in net profit for the quarter ended September 2020 at Rs 1,138.2 crore. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,402 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Globally, shares slipped to a two-week low on Thursday, and oil steadied after another heavy decline, as a surge in global COVID-19 cases and fractious United states stimulus talks kept financial markets cautious, according to reports.

Sensex falls 181 points, stock market opens with fall

Closing Bell: Sensex Up 162 pt, Britannia falls 4-pc

Gold and silver prices gain in India, MCX Gold watch