Stock market today: Nifty50 ends near 25,500; BSE Sensex down almost 150 points

Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmark indices, ended in red on Thursday in a session that saw volatile trading. The stock market ended in red on the back of foreign fund exits and selling pressure in ICICI Bank shares.

The NSE Nifty declined by 87.95 points or 0.34 per cent to 25,509.70. The BSE Sensex fell 148.14 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 83,311.01, fluctuating between a high of 83,846.35 and a low of 83,237.65.

Among Sensex constituents, Power Grid, Eternal, Bharat Electronics, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank and NTPC were the top losers, whilst Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra and UltraTech Cement were the top gainers.

Markets remained closed on Wednesday for Guru Nanak Jayanti. FIIs sold equities worth Rs 1,067.01 crore on Tuesday, while DIIs purchased stocks valued at Rs 1,202.90 crore, as per exchange data.

Asian markets finished positively, with gains in South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225, Shanghai's SSE Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng. European markets traded lower, whilst US markets closed higher on Wednesday.

"Volatility dominated the domestic market, with broad-based profit-booking seen amid continued FII outflows, despite supportive Asian market. Early optimism from the inclusion of four Indian companies in the MSCI Global Standard Index and strong US macro data was offset by weak domestic PMI readings, indicating softening sentiment," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

India's services sector expansion slowed to a five-month low in October, affected by competitive pressures and heavy rainfall in certain regions, according to Thursday's monthly survey.

The HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index decreased from 60.9 in September to 58.9 in October, marking the slowest growth since May. In PMI terms, readings above 50 indicate expansion, whilst below 50 signify contraction.

Previously on Tuesday, the Sensex decreased by 519.34 points or 0.62 per cent to 83,459.15, while the Nifty fell 165.70 points or 0.64 per cent to 25,597.65.

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