Sensex closes 76.47 points down at 40575.17, Nifty ends below 12K; Zee, Eicher Motors, Dr Reddy's top gainers

In the muted trading session on Thursday (November 21), the benchmark indices ended marginally lower. The Sensex closes at 40575.17, down 76.47 points, while Nifty ends 11968.40 mark, down 30.70 points. Among the top gainers on the Nifty were Zee Entertainment, Eicher Motors, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Adani Ports and HUL, while BPCL, Coal India, Tata Steel, Yes Bank and Bharti Airtel were the losers.

All the sectoral indices ended lower led by the metal, energy, infra, FMCG, IT and pharma, and about 1079 shares have advanced, 1441 shares declined, and 198 shares are unchanged. 

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In the morning today, the Markets opened in the green and traded near-record levels. The Sensex was up 38 points at 40,690.46 from its previous close of 40,651.64, while the Nifty traded higher by 5 points at 12,004.45.

Telecom stocks fell on Thursday after strong performance over the last few sessions. Vodafone Idea fell nearly 5 per cent, Bharti Airtel traded lower by 2 per cent on the NSE.

BPCL was trading 2.30 per cent lower at Rs 532.10 a share after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the strategic disinvestment of the Centre`s entire stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corp, THDC India, and NEEPCO, and most of its stake in Container Corp.

It also gave an in-principle approval for the government to reduce stake in certain state-owned companies to below 51 per cent in some, while retaining majority stake management control.

Meanwhile, global stocks slid further on Thursday as the standoff between the world`s two largest economies extended beyond trade, reducing the odds of a "phase-one" deal this year and forcing investors to seek shelter in safe-haven assets.

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed two bills intended to support protesters in Hong Kong and send a warning to China about human rights.

With US President Donald Trump seen likely to sign the bill, Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said this "could risk progress towards a phase one trade deal".

European shares extended their losses from Wednesday with the pan-European STOXX 600 and the trade-sensitive Germany`s DAX 30 both sliding 0.7% to fresh two-week lows.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.1% to a near three-week lows, with Hong Kong`s Hang Seng tumbling 1.6% while Japan`s Nikkei dropped 0.5%. Chinese mainland shares dropped 0.3%.

(With agency inputs)