Sensex, Nifty End Lower After Choppy Session

(RTTNews) - Indian shares fluctuated before ending modestly lower on Thursday amid widespread profit booking after recent gains to record highs.

Domestic markets opened on a positive note, mirroring gains elsewhere in global markets after U.S. Supreme Court justices questioned the legality behind a wide swath of Donald Trump's tariffs and raised key constitutional questions about executive overreach and taxation, raising hopes that some of the duties may be rolled back.

Key benchmark indexes pared early gains and turned lower after data showed a measure of India's services sector growth fell to a five-month low in October amid competitive pressures and heavy rains,

The benchmark BSE swung between gains and losses before ending the session down 148.14 points, or 0.18 percent, at 83,311.01.

The broader NSE Nifty index dropped 87.95 points, or 0.34 percent, to 25,509.70 while the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes tumbled 1.2 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

The market breadth was extremely weak on the BSE, with 3,007 shares declining while 1,206 shares rose and 140 shares closed unchanged.

Selling was seen across the board, with Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, BEL, Eternal and Power Grid Corp falling 1-3 percent.

Grasim Industries slumped 6.2 percent after Rakshit Hargave, the CEO of its paints business, resigned.

Indoco Remedies lost 3.2 percent after reporting a loss for the July-September period.

Hindalco plummeted 5.2 percent after an announcement that a fire at Novelis aluminum recycling plant in New York will affect its cash flow.

Asian Paints soared 4.8 percent as brokerage Nomura upgraded its rating on the stock. Britannia Industries rallied 2.4 percent after it reported a 23.1 percent rise in Q2 net profit, driven by stable input costs and continued cost optimization.

Redington jumped nearly 16 percent on record Q2 results.

Paytm surged over 4 percent after the stock was included in the MSCI Global Standard index in its November rejig.

Globally, Asian markets followed Wall Street higher, while European stocks opened on a weak note ahead of the Bank of England's interest-rate decision.

Oil traded higher after falling more than 1 percent on Wednesday to settle at a two-week low on concerns of a possible global oil glut.

Gold climbed above $4,000 per ounce as the dollar eased from a four-month high hit in the previous session.