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Stock Market Closing Bell: Indian equity markets ended lower on Thursday as selling pressure in media, metal, and financial stocks weighed on investor sentiment.

The BSE Sensex declined 148.14 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 83,311.01, while the NSE Nifty 50 settled 87.95 points or 0.34 per cent lower at 25,509.70, snapping a two-day gaining streak.

Broader markets witnessed deeper cuts, with the Nifty Midcap 100 falling 0.95 per cent, the Nifty Smallcap 100 slipping 1.39 per cent, and the Nifty Microcap 250 plunging 1.69 per cent, reflecting broad-based weakness across segments.

The Nifty Next 50 also declined 1.24 per cent, indicating that profit booking extended beyond frontline indices.

Sectorally, selling was prominent in media (-2.54 per cent), metal (-2.07 per cent), consumer durables (-1.98 per cent), and realty (-1.51 per cent) indices. Energy (-1.21 per cent), financial services (-0.60 per cent), and banking (-0.47 per cent) stocks also contributed to the decline.

On the other hand, IT (+0.18 per cent) and auto (+0.06 per cent) indices managed to end in positive territory, offering limited support to the benchmarks.

Among Sensex constituents, Power Grid (-3.08 per cent), Eternal (-2.42 per cent), BEL (-1.67 per cent), Bajaj Finance (-1.34 per cent), and ICICI Bank (-1.24 per cent) were the top laggards.

Titan (-1.16 per cent), NTPC (-1.12 per cent), and Tata Steel (-1 per cent) also saw notable declines. Weakness in heavyweight counters like Kotak Bank (-0.64 per cent), L&T (-0.59 per cent), and Bharti Airtel (-0.85 per cent) further dragged the index lower.

On the flip side, select blue-chip stocks lent some cushion to the market. Asian Paints (+4.60 per cent) led the gainers’ pack, followed by Reliance Industries (+1.53 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra (+1.02 per cent), UltraTech Cement (+1.00 per cent), and TCS (+0.77 per cent).

Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra, Trent, HDFC Bank, and SBI also ended slightly higher. In sector performance, Nifty IT stocks saw mild gains, supported by buying in large-cap counters like TCS, Infosys, and HCLTech, while auto shares traded flat to positive.

However, profit booking in metals and energy sectors overshadowed gains, with global commodity prices showing mixed trends.

Anubhav Maurya is a Senior Sub-Editor at Zee Business, focusing on the stock market, personal finance, corporate news, and related sectors.

He has previously worked wi