The Sensex slipped 40 points to settle at 84,234, while the Nifty gained 19 points to end at 25,954. The broader market saw mixed trends, with the Nifty Bank index rising 119 points to 60,745 and the Midcap index adding 19 points to 60,755. Market breadth remained neutral, with the advance-decline ratio at 1:1.
From the Sensex basket, Eicher Motors Ltd, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, State Bank of India, Max Healthcare Institute Ltd, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and InterGlobe Aviation Ltd were the major gainers. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Coal India Ltd, Infosys Ltd, ITC Ltd, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Grasim Industries Ltd were the biggest laggards.
IT stocks weighed on sentiment through the session. TCS, Infosys and HCLTech were among the top losers on the Sensex. On the Nifty, LTIMindtree, Persistent Systems and TCS featured among the key laggards, keeping pressure on the headline indices.
In contrast, auto stocks lent support to the Nifty. Eicher Motors surged nearly 7% to hit a record high after reporting its third-quarter results. Apollo Hospitals and SBI were also among the top gainers on the Nifty. Hospital stocks traded higher following a strong set of earnings from Apollo Hospitals.
Among individual names, Som Distilleries fell 9% after reporting weak third-quarter results. BHEL declined over 5% after the government announced plans to divest up to a 5% stake in the company. Torrent Power dropped 4% despite posting positive third-quarter results.
Britannia rose over 2% after reporting third-quarter numbers that were in line with estimates.
Overall, the session remained range-bound with sectoral divergence, as gains in auto and select healthcare stocks offset weakness in information technology shares, leaving the broader market largely unchanged by the close.
