Closing Bell: Indices close marginally lower in a choppy trading session

Domestic equity bourses Sensex and Nifty50 closed a volatile session in the red today as selling in financial, metal and oil & gas names pulled the benchmark indices lower. 

Indian equity market finished lower in a volatile trading session on Monday, dragged by heavy selling in metal stocks. The headline indices swung between gains and losses throughout today's session before closing in the negative.  

Also in the news, the government has imposed hefty export duties on crucial steel-making raw materials like iron ore and pellets. The tax on the export of iron ores and concentrates has been increased to 50% from 30%, while on iron pellets, a 45% duty has been imposed. In another major development to curb the rising inflation and provide some respite to people, the central government, during the weekend, announced that the excise duty on petrol and diesel would be cut by Rs 8 per litre and Rs 6 per litre, respectively. Owing to these developments, Indian indices erased all the intraday gains and ended marginally lower. 

At the closing bell on May 23, the Sensex was down 37.78 points or 0.07% at 54,288.61, and the Nifty was down 51.50 points or 0.32% at 16,214.70. On the market depth, 1390 shares have advanced, 1932 shares declined, and 158 shares are unchanged. 

Top Nifty gainers of the day were M&M, Maruti Suzuki, HUL, Asian Paints and Larsen and Toubro, while top losers included JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Divis Labs, ONGC and Hindalco Industries. In the top laggards, JSW Steel was the top Nifty loser as the stock tanked 13.21% to Rs 547.75. Divi’s Labs down lost 10% following management commentary on financial results. 

On the sectoral basis, auto, capital goods and IT indices added 0.5-1%, while metal index lost 8%, while realty, pharma and oil & gas index slid by 1% each. In the broad markets, the BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended in the red.