Market Retreats: Sensex falls 360 points, Nifty ends at 21,353

The Indian equity market indices ended on a negative note on Thursday dragged by information technology stocks on weak results from Tech Mahindra.Broader markets, on the other hand, traded in the green.At close, the Sensex was down 359.64 points or 0.51 percent at 70,700.67, and the Nifty was down 101.35 points or 0.47 percent at 21,352.60. About 1,813 shares advanced, 1,423 declined and 55 were unchanged.
Stocks and Sectors
Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports,NTPC,Coal India, Induslnd Bank and ICICI Bank were the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Tech Mahindra, Cipla, Bharti Airtel, LTIMindtree and SBI Life Insura.BSE Midcap index down 0.5 percent, while Smallcap index traded flat.
On the sectoral front,all indices, barring Nifty Realty, ended in the red. The financial services, pharma, bank, IT, FMCG and healthcare index settled over a percent lower.
On 25 Jan'24,the Indian rupee opened on a flat note against the US dollar in the morning session on Thursday,amid muted trend in domestic equities.Forex traders said the rupee is trading in a narrow range as rising crude oil prices, strong American currency, and sustained foreign fund outflows dented sentiment.At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.13 against the dollar and touched an initial high of 83.11 and an early low of 83.14 against the greenback. The market will remain close on January 26 on account of Republic Day.
Experts Take:
Market experts have recommended nine stocks to buy for Thursday— Infosys, Mishra Dhatu Nigam, LT, NCC, Apar Industries, Godrej Consumer, IPCA Labs, Honeywell Automation, and Kaynes Technology.

(Writer is a Finance Research Analyst, based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat)