Sensex, Nifty start on choppy note; finance stocks decline

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened on a choppy note on Thursday(December 30), tracking weakness in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, SBI and ICICI Bank amid a mixed trend in global markets.

The 30-share Sensex was trading 13.25 points or 0.02 per cent lower at 57,793.24. Similarly, the Nifty slipped 8.45 points or 0.05 per cent to 17,205.15.

Bajaj Finserv was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding about 1.5 per cent, followed by M&M, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, L&T, Reliance, SBI and ICICI Bank.

On the other hand, Wipro, PowerGrid, Dr Reddy’s, Tech Mahindra and Titan were among the gainers.

In the previous session, the 30-share index dropped by 90.99 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 57,806.49. And the broader Nifty slipped by 19.65 points or 0.11 per cent to close at 17,213.60.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading with gains in mid-session deals, while Seoul and Tokyo were in losses.

Stock exchanges in the US ended on a mixed note in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.25 per cent to USD 79.41 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 975.23 crore on Wednesday, according to stock exchange data. PTI BAL DRR DRR