Closing Bell: Indices end lower in a volatile session

Domestic equity bourses Sensex and Nifty gyrated between gains and losses in Tuesday's trading session amid caution among investors as they digested the overall economic outlook.

Indian equity market finished lower for the third consecutive session on Tuesday amid raging inflation numbers, while traders braced for aggressive hikes from the Federal Reserve. Headline indices had another bumpy start today after falling in the previous two sessions. In the US, Wall Street hit a lower circuit milestone on fears of a looming recession. Additionally, fears of higher rates leading to a US recession pushed the S&P 500 down by over 20% from its recent record closing high. Owing to this Indian market failed to hold on to intraday recovery and closed at a fresh 11-month low.

At the closing bell on June 14, the Sensex was down 153.13 points or 0.29% at 52,693.57, and the Nifty was down 42.30 points or 0.27% at 15,732.10. On the market breadth, around 1506 shares have advanced, 1730 shares declined, and 132 shares were unchanged.

Top Nifty losers of the day were Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank, Hindalco Industries, ONGC and Tech Mahindra, while top gainers include NTPC, M&M, Bharti Airtel, Apollo Hospitals and Divis Labs.

On the sectoral basis, auto, metal and oil & gas ended in the red, while capital goods, power and realty indices closed higher. In the broad markets, the BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended marginally lower. According to the latest data India's wholesale price index (WPI) Inflation, climbed to 15.8% in May, its highest level since 2012.

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict started in February, crude oil and commodity prices surge has set inflation to record highs in many countries, forcing central banks to embrace an aggressive monetary policy path. On Friday, US data showing annual inflation to May shot up by 8.6%, its fastest in 40 years.