Mumbai, Nov 6 (IANS) The domestic equity indices closed lower on Thursday amid selling in broader markets and continued FII outflows.

Selling pressure in banking, Financial Services, and FMCG heavyweights dragged the market sentiment as well.

Sensex ended the session at 83,311.01, down 148.14 points or 0.18 per cent. The 30-share index started the session in green at 83,516.69 against last day’s closing of 83,459.15. However, the index fell due to selling in banking, Financial Services and broader markets.

Nifty closed at 25,509.70, down 87.95 points or 0.34 per cent.

“Volatility dominated the domestic market, with broad-based profit booking seen amid continued FII outflows, despite a supportive Asian market. Early optimism from the inclusion of four Indian companies in the MSCI Global Standard Index and strong U.S. macro data was offset by weak domestic PMI readings, indicating softening sentiment,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited.

Most sectors traded lower, though IT stocks remained resilient, supported by in-line earnings and improvement in US macro data. Amid overall caution, selective buying emerged in fundamentally strong companies due to better-than-expected Q2 earnings.

From the Sensex basket, PowerGrid, Eternal, BEL, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Titan, NTPC, Tata Steel, Bharati Airtel, Kotak Bank, L&T and Bajaj FinServ were the top losers. Asian Paint, Mahindra and Mahindra, TCS, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle ended the session in positive territory.

The majority of sectoral indices fell amid selling pressure. Nifty Fin Services slipped 162 points or 0.60 per cent, Nifty Bank decreased 272 points or 0.47 per cent, and Nifty FMCG closed 103 points or 0.19 per cent down. Meanwhile, Nifty IT and Nifty Auto ended the session slightly up.

Broader followed the suit as well. Nifty Small Cap 100 fell 255 points or 1.39 per cent, Nifty Midcap 100 dipped 568 points or 0.95 per cent, and Nifty 100 ended the session 129 points or 0.49 per cent lower.

–IANS

aps/na