Choppy day at Dalal Street: Sensex closes 145 points down

Mumbai (Maharashtra): The Indian stock markets key indices, Sensex and Nifty, closed in the negative in a choppy day on Wednesday amid continued uncertainty over Russia-Ukraine tensions.

The 30 stock S&P BSE Sensex closed at 57,996.68 points, which is 145.37 points or 0.25 per cent down from its previous day's close at 58,142.05 points. The index witnessed a volatile session. The Sensex opened in the positive at 58,310.68 points and surged to a high of 58,569.22 points and slipped to a low of 57,780.28 points in the intra-day.

The Indian stock markets have witnessed extremely volatile trading this week. The Sensex soared 1736.21 points on Tuesday after losing 1747.08 points on Monday.

The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange closed 30.25 points or 0.17 per cent down at 17,322.20 points against its previous day's close at 17,352.45 points.

Earlier, the Nifty 50 opened in the positive at 17,408.45 points and rose to a high of 17,490.60 points and slipped to a low of 17,257.70 points in the intra-day.

There was selling pressure in banking stocks. State Bank of India slipped 1.58 per cent to Rs 516.35. ICICI Bank fell 1.39 per cent to Rs 765.35.

NTPC 1.63 per cent down at Rs 133.15; Ultra Tech Cement 1.56 per cent down at Rs 7177.30; Tata Steel 1.28 per cent down at Rs 1192.05; Bajaj Finserv 0.96 per cent down at Rs 16209; Bajaj Finance 0.91 per cent down at Rs 7072.90 and L&T 0.90 per cent down at Rs 1860.10 were among the major Sensex losers.

Only eight of the 30 scrips that are part of the Sensex close in the positive. Bharti Airtel rose 1.41 per cent to Rs 721.40. HDFC 1.29 per cent higher at Rs 2370; Mahindra & Mahindra 1.10 per cent higher at Rs 864; Dr Reddy's

Laboratories 1.04 per cent higher at Rs 4320.05 and Kotak Bank 0.93 per cent higher at Rs 1829.45 were among the major Sensex gainers. (ANI)