Sensex declines by 89 pts, Nifty falls nearly 23 pts in choppy trade

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Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed with losses in highly volatile trade on Thursday as banking and financial stocks retreated amid a weak trend in global equity markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 89.14 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 57,595.68. During the day, it touched a low of 57,138.51 and a high of 57,827.99.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 22.90 points or 0.13 per cent to settle at 17,222.75.

From the 30-share pack, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki India, IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Axis Bank and State Bank of India were the major drags.

In contrast, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, ITC, TCS and HCL Technologies Limited were among the gainers.

"The market now lacks direction and is moving up or down on a daily basis responding to news regarding crude price, FPI flows and speculation on what the Fed might do in the coming policy meets," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In the previous trade, the BSE barometer declined 304.48 points or 0.53 per cent to settle at 57,684.82. The Nifty dipped 69.85 points or 0.4 per cent to finish at 17,245.65.

Equity exchanges in Seoul, Hong Kong and Shanghai ended lower, while Tokyo was marginally higher. Stock exchanges in the US ended on a negative note in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude surged 0.30 per cent to USD 122 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 481.33 crore on Wednesday, according to stock exchange data.