The domestic equity benchmarks, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50, surrendered a significant portion of their intraday gains on Thursday, finishing the session with marginal increases. Despite a spectacular opening fueled by global cues and cooling oil prices, a wave of late-afternoon profit-booking in metal and energy counters dragged the indices down from their daily highs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the final bell, the BSE Sensex<\/strong> stood at 77,100.47<\/strong>, up by just 109.25 points or 0.14%, after scaling an intraday high of 77,803.18. Similarly, the tech-heavy NSE Nifty 50<\/strong> managed to defend the psychological milestone of 24,000, closing at 24,056.00<\/strong>, up 34.35 points or 0.14%, down from its daily peak of 24,261.60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The trading day began on a high note. Dalal Street cheered a massive slide in global Brent crude oil prices, which slid down toward $72 per barrel following news of stabilizing tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Lower oil prices traditionally ease imported inflation pressures for India, sparking a risk-on sentiment in early trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further support came from global markets, particularly a tech-led rally in Asia inspired by blowout earnings from global semiconductor majors Micron and Qualcomm. Domestically, comments from the RBI Governor ruling out near-term interest rate hikes provided structural support to the banking sector, keeping the Nifty Bank afloat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, as the afternoon session progressed\u2014and coincided with the weekly BSE Sensex options expiry\u2014volatility spiked. Traders actively unwound long positions, forcing the indices to drop nearly 700 points from the day\u2019s highest levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The late-market cooling was primarily triggered by sudden corrections in heavy-weight commodity spaces:<\/p>\n\n\n\nMorning Euphoria Fails to Sustain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sectoral Play: Metals and Energy Bleed, Realty and Auto Outperform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Top Gainers & Losers (Nifty 50)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n