Nifty ends below 11,700-mark

The NSE Nifty declined by another 15 points to 11,676.80 as gains in FMCG, pharma and metal were offset by losses mainly in financial service, energy and auto sectors in a volatile trade due to expiry of derivatives contracts at the end of the session.

Month-end dollar demand from importers and a slide in other currencies weighed on the rupee which hit fresh record low at 70.90 early today against US dollar, pressured by rising crude oil prices.

Trading was volatile as traders rolled over positions in the F&O segment from the August 2018 series to September 2018. The August 2018 F&O contracts expired today. Broader market settled with decent gains.

Overseas, European stocks were lower as investors continued to monitor global trade talks and corporate earnings. Asian stocks gave up earlier gains and fell as concerns persist over the development of the Sino-US trade spat.

The Nifty eased 15.10 points, or 0.13 per cent, to end at 11,676.80. The index hit a high of 11,698.80 and low of 11,639.70 during the day.

It saw an intra-day movement of about 58.10 points.

On the sectoral front, energy fell 0.62 per cent followed by financial service 0.54 per cent, auto 0.45 per cent, private bank 0.45 per cent and bank 0.43 per cent.

While, FMCG climbed by 1.28 per cent, pharma 1.12 per cent, metal 0.85 per cent, realty 0.60 per cent, infra 0.42 per cent, PSU bank 0.28 per cent and media 0.16 per cent.

Major index gainers, SunPharma, Tata Steel, GAIL, UPL, ITC, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco and Powergrid.

Losers were Eicher Motors, Bajaj Finance, HindPetro, Maruti, Hcl Tech, Reliance, IOC and HDFC.

The market breadth, indicating its overall health, turned gainers. On the NSE, 963 stocks advanced, 846 declined and 91 remained unchanged. Total securities that have hit their price bands were 226.

Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 41,144.29 crore from Rs 35,363.26 crore as on Wednesday.

A total of 18,227.95 lakh shares changed hands in 1,16,88,277 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on NSE stood at Rs 1,56,95,561.60 crore.