Sensex ends 194 pts lower owing to late selling; Broader indices outperform

Stock Market Highlights: The key benchmark indices exhibited lacklustre movement for the major part of the trading session on Thursday, before the last hour selling forced the indices end into the negative zone. Broader markets, however, managed to hold gains for the day.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which, had touched a high of 62,762, slid into red to a low of 62,359 – down 403 points from the day’s high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 194 points at 62,429. The NSE Nifty gave-up the 18,500 level in late trades, and settled at 18,488 – down 47 points.

Broader indices, however, managed to outperform the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.1 per cent, while the Smallcap index added 0.6 per cent. The overall breadth too was fairly positive, with nearly 2,100 advancing shares versus 1,440-odd declining stocks on the BSE.