In the red again: IT, pharma pull indices down for second day in row

In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap gauge climbed 0.31% and small-cap index advanced marginally by 0.06%

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 gave up early gains to close in negative territory on Thursday, dragged down by IT and pharma stocks which fell amid fears of recession in the global economy.

The 30-share Sensex opened higher and rose further to touch a day's high of 60,676.12 on gains in auto and capital goods shares. However, it gave up all early gains and closed 412.96 points or 0.68 per cent lower at 59,934.01.

The Nifty50 dipped 126.35 points or 0.7 per cent to settle at 17,877.40.

From the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra fell the most by 3.13 per cent. Infosys, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank and Indusind Bank were among the major laggards. Maruti, Power Grid, NTPC, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India ended higher.

Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services said, "Defying the positive trend of global markets, domestic indices shed early gains, dragged by losses in IT and pharma sectors, while mid & small caps outperformed." Fears of a recession in the global economy exacerbated selling pressure in IT and pharma stocks, Nair said.

In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap gauge climbed 0.31 per cent and small-cap index advanced marginally by 0.06 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, IT fell 1.63 per cent, followed by tech (1.50 per cent), metal (1.09 per cent), realty (1.01 per cent), healthcare (0.88 per cent) and consumer durables (0.76 per cent). Consumer discretionary goods & services, industrials, utilities, auto and power ended higher.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded Rs 1,397.51 crore from the domestic equities on Wednesday. Asian markets in Tokyo and Hong Kong ended in the green, while Shanghai and Seoul settled lower. The US markets had ended on a positive note on Wednesday.