Share Market: Indices Close Session Lower, Sensex Under 73,100, Nifty Ends Flat

The Indian stock market ended the first trading session of March in the negative territory. The BSE Sensex settled just over 73K at 73,085.94, tanking more than 100 points, while the NSE Nifty50 ended trading at 22,119.30, closing only 5 points lower. This decline in the indices was attributed to the intense selling pressure in market majors such as HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries amid consistent foreign fund outflows. 

On the 30-share Sensex platform, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, NTPC, and M&M closed the session as gainers. Meanwhile, the laggards of the day included Reliance, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, and Maruti.

In the broader markets, the Nifty Next 50 dominated in green and settled over 1 per cent higher. On the other hand, the Nifty Microcap 250 closed the session lower by 0.82 per cent.

Sectorally, the Midsmall Financial Services ended in red at 1.18 per cent. The gainers among the sectors were dominated by the Realty and Metal indices which climbed 1.26 per cent and 1.18 per cent respectively.

PMI Data Released

The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slipped to 56.3 in February, the survey compiled by S&P Global revealed on Monday. While the sector saw a slowdown in expansion against the PMI of 57.7 recorded in January, it continued to remain on the path for improvement.

Global Markets

The Asian markets saw Hong Kong and Tokyo close higher, while Shanghai ended trading in red. Seoul stock market was closed for the public due to a holiday. The US markets closed in the positive territory on Friday and European markets also remained in green on Monday.

The global oil benchmark, Brent crude slipped 0.58 per cent to touch $72.39 per barrel. The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) dumped Indian  equities worth Rs 11,639.02 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

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