Indian stocks close in red on selling in RIL and other heavyweights

MUMBAI: Indian stock market indices closed in the red, driven by selling pressure in heavyweight stocks like Reliance Industries and other blue-chip companies.

The BSE Sensex dropped by 151.48 points, or 0.18 per cent, ending the day at 82,201.16, while the NSE Nifty50 slipped 53.60 points, or 0.21 per cent, to close at 25,145.10 on Thursday.

Bears dominated the market as 33 out of the 50 Nifty50 constituent stocks closed lower.

Cipla, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Reliance Industries, Coal India, and Britannia Industries were among the major laggards, falling by up to 1.46 per cent.

On the flip side, Titan, LTIMindtree, Wipro, BPCL, and ITC registered gains of up to 3.11 per cent.

Sensex stocks

On the BSE, 20 of the 30 Sensex-listed stocks ended in negative territory, with Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Nestle India, and Bharti Airtel leading the declines, shedding up to 1.41 per cent.

Meanwhile, Titan, Infosys, ITC, and HCL Tech were among the nine gainers, rising by up to 3.11 per cent.

In the broader market, small-cap stocks outperformed, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 index gaining 1.03 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index also posted gains, closing 0.38 per cent higher.

Among sectoral indices, IT, media, metal, and banking stocks led the gains, while realty, pharma, auto, and oil marketing companies (OMCs) ended lower.

RIL bonus issue

In notable corporate news, the board of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) approved its first bonus issue since 2017. RIL announced a one-for-one bonus share issue and proposed raising its authorized share capital from Rs15,000 crore to Rs50,000 crore, as per an exchange filing.