Closing Bell: Sensex sheds over 100 points, IT and metal drag

Nifty and Sensex continued their downward journey for the fourth consecutive trading session.

The Indian stock market closed in the red for the fourth consecutive trading session, amid volatility, due to selling pressure in heavyweights such as ITC, NTPC and Infosys.

On Friday the BSE Sensex swung in a broad range of nearly 900 points, trading between an intra-day low of 60,551 and a high of 61,420. At the closing bell on October 22, 2021, the Sensex closed at 60,821.50, down by 101 points or 0.17% and the Nifty ended at 18,114.90, lower by 63 points or 0.35%.

On the sectoral front, the IT, metal, pharma and FMCG indices closed down by 1-3% each.

The broader markets on Friday also ended in the red, and were seen under-performing their large-cap peers, with the BSE Midcap index losing 1.1% and the BSE Smallcap index shedding 1.2%.

According to market experts, the benchmark indices had a gap-up opening on the back of positive global cues. But replicating the previous session, the markets were unable to maintain their early gains due to the emergence of volatility at higher levels.

On the market breadth, around 1205 shares have advanced, 1865 shares declined, and 119 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers of the day were HDFC Bank, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, while ITC, Maruti Suzuki, Infosys and NTPC were among the top Sensex losers. On stocks that were in focus today, ITC extended its previous day's losses by another 3% to top the losers list on the BSE.

In the Friday trading session, select private banks and financial stocks bucked the weak trend. HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank gained 1-2% each on the bourses. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was marginally up by 0.1% at Rs 2627 ahead of its earnings results scheduled later in the day.