Indian equity benchmarks finished a choppy session flat on Thursday as gains in heavyweights such as Reliance and Axis Bank were offset by losses in Bajaj Finance and TCS. Weakness across global markets — as investors feared aggressive hikes in COVID-era rates will cause a slowdown — dented the sentiment on Dalal Street, after data showed the world's largest economy contracted in the January-March period.

Share Market Live

NSE

The 30-scrip Sensex index gyrated within a 494.3-point range during the session — between 52,883.3 and 53,377.5 — and managed to hold the 53,000 mark for the day.

The Nifty50 benchmark moved in a broad range of 15,850-15,750 in intraday trade.

The Sensex lost 5,549.6 points or 9.5 percent of its value in the April-June period. The Nifty shed 1,684.5 points or 9.6 percent. That meant the main indices' worst performance in the quarter ended June since 2008.

A total of 36 stocks in the Nifty50 basket finished the day below the flatline on Thursday.

JSW Steel, Shree Cement, Coal India, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consumer — falling around 2-3 percent — were also among the top laggards.

On the other hand, Axis Bank, SBI, Divi's, Britannia, HDFC Life, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI Life and NTPC — rising around one percent — were the top gainers among blue-chip stocks.

The rupee hit a record closing low of 78.97 against the US dollar.

Overall market breadth favoured the bears, as 1,369 stocks rose and 1,907 fell on BSE.

Global markets

European shares began the day deep in the red as investors became increasingly wary of a global recession in the wake of hawkish central bank moves to tame sticky inflation. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell as much as two percent in early hours.

S&P 500 futures were down 1.3 percent at the last count, suggesting a lower start ahead on Wall Street.

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