Sensex, Nifty Decline For Third Session Dragged By ITC, Bajaj Twins, Reliance

India's stock benchmarks logged losses for the third consecutive session, dragged by auto, telecom and select banking stocks. Focus shifts to the Fed policy decision due Wednesday that could induce volatility, amid rising concerns over elevated inflation and risks to economic recovery due to omicron strain.

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.29% to 58,117.09. The NSE Nifty 50 index also declined by similar magnitude to 17,324.90. Both the indices fell as much as 0.8% in intraday trade before paring some of the losses. ITC Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 2.6%. Today, 24 of 50 shares fell, while 26 rose.

The S&P BSE MidCap almost mirrored its larger peers shedding 0.37% while the S&P BSE SmallCap closed little changed. Ten of the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced with S&P BSE Power adding 1.39%. On the flipside, S&P BSE Telecom fell nearly 1.4%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bulls. About 1,806 stocks advanced, 1,503 declined and 116 remained unchanged.

"Markets consolidated in a range and ended marginally lower, in continuation to the previous session’s fall. Weak global cues triggered a gap down start however mixed trends across the sectors capped the movement thereafter", Ajit Mishra, VP - Research at Religare Broking Ltd. wrote in a note. He added, "participants are maintaining a cautious stance ahead of the US Fed meeting outcome, which is scheduled on December 15 and we may see a similar trend on Wednesday as well. On the benchmark front, a decisive fall below 17,150 in Nifty would further fuel the negative bias. We reiterate our view to limit leveraged positions and maintain positions on both sides".