Sensex, Nifty slip amid weakness in banking stocks
(IANS)
MUMBAI, May 27: Bench-mark equity indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower in a volatile trading session on Wednesday as weakness in banking and financial stocks, coupled with geopolitical uncertainties surrounding the US-Iran situation, kept investors cautious.
The 30-share Sensex slipped 141.90 points, or 0.19 per cent, to settle at 75,867.80. The index had opened on a positive note but lost momentum as the day progressed.
Commenting on Nifty technical outlook, experts said that the 23,800 region remains an important im-mediate support zone, and a decisive break below this area could extend weakness toward the 23,600–23,500 levels.
“On the upside, the 24,000–24,100 range con-tinues to act as a strong resistance band, and only a sustained move above this zone could revive bull-ish momentum toward the 24,200 levels,” an analyst stated.
Among the top losers on the Nifty were Oil and Natu-ral Gas Corporation, HDFC Bank and HDFC Life Insur-ance, with financial stocks remaining under pressure throughout the session.
On the gaining side, Pow-er Grid Corporation of India, Eternal and NTPC rose more than 2 per cent each among Sensex constituents.
Other notable gainers included Tata Steel, IndiGo, Maruti Suzuki, Titan Com-pany and Asian Paints.
The broader Nifty also closed marginally lower, fall-ing 6.55 points, or 0.03 per cent, to end at 23,907.15.
Market sentiment re-mained subdued as inves-tors monitored developments related to the United States and Iran.
Reports of US strikes in southern Iran on Tuesday, despite ongoing negotia-tions and expectations of a possible deal between Wash-ington and Tehran, added to concerns over the fragile geopolitical environment.
In the broader market, midcap and smallcap stocks outperformed the bench-mark indices. The Nifty MidCap index settled 0.42 per cent higher, while the Nifty SmallCap index gained 0.15 per cent.
Sectorally, the Nifty Fi-nancial Services, Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank indi-ces were among the worst performers.
In contrast, the Nifty Me-dia, Nifty Metal and Nifty Auto indices ended higher, supported by buying interest in select stocks.
Analysts said persistent geopolitical uncertainty and fresh foreign institutional in-vestor outflows continued to keep traders on edge despite resilience in broader market segments.