Mumbai, July 24 (IANS) The Indian stock market settled in negative territory on Thursday following heavy selling in IT, realty, consumer goods and energy sector amid Q1 earnings.

Breaking the last session’s gaining momentum, Sensex closed at 82,184.17, down 542.47 points or 0.66 per cent. The 30-share index started the session with a slight gain at 82,779.95 against the previous day’s closing of 82,726.64.

However, the index was not able to maintain the momentum due to selling in heavyweights from the IT, realty and consumer goods sectors. It touched an intra-day low of 82,047.22.

Nifty closed at 25,062.10, down 0.63 per cent or 157.80 points.

Sectoral performance was mixed, as PSU banks, healthcare, and pharma stocks outperformed, while the IT, construction, consumer goods, energy, and oil and gas sectors lagged, said Ashika Institutional Equities in its note.

Trent, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj FinServ, Reliance, Infosys, Kotak Bank, HCL Tech, ITC, Asian Paints, and TCS were the top losers from the Sensex basket. While Eternal, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, and Tata Steel were among the gainers.

Meanwhile, 34 shares declined and 16 advanced from the Nifty 50.

Sectoral indices experienced heavy selling during the session, led by Nifty IT (down 815 points or 2.21 per cent). Nifty FMCG fell 624 points or 1.12 per cent, Nifty Fin Services tanked 169 points or 0.62 per cent, and Bank Nifty settled 144 points or 0.25 per cent down.

“A surprise Trump-Fed meeting, stalled US-India trade talks, and tariff uncertainty suppressed market momentum despite optimism around a UK-India free-trade deal,” said Vikram Kasat, Head of Advisory, PL Capital.

Broader indices followed suit as well, with Nifty 100 closed 144 points down, Nifty Midcap 100 fell 346 points, and Nifty Smallcap 100 settled 206 points down.

Rupee opened strongly with 0.30 per cent gains supported by a weaker dollar index near 97.30 in early trade.

However, as the dollar index began to recover intraday, the rupee gave up its gains and settled near 86.40 from the day’s high of 86.25.

“Market participants remain cautious ahead of next week’s U.S. Federal Reserve policy decision, which is expected to provide further direction. The rupee is likely to trade in a range of 85.85–86.65 in the near term,” said Jateen Trivedi of LKP Securities.

–IANS

aps/na