FINAL TRADE: Sensex ends volatile session down 398 pts, Nifty slides to 24,918 dragged by energy, auto shares

Share Market News: Domestic equity benchmarks ended a session full of seesaw moves on a negative note on Wednesday as selling pressure in energy and automobile shares outweighed buying interest in FMCG stocks. Globally, equities staged negative moves with investors awaiting a key inflation reading from the world's largest economy due this week for more clarity on the course of benchmark interest rates. 

Both headline indices finished the day about half a per cent lower, with the Sensex shedding 398.1 points to settle at 81,523.2. The Nifty50 settled at 24,918.5, down 122.7 points, or 0.5 per cent, from its previous close.

Tata Motors, ONGC, Wipro, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Enterprises, NTPC, Hindalco and Adani Ports, closing between 1.5 per cent and 5.7 per cent lower, were the worst hit among the 34 laggards in the Nifty50 basket. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Shriram Finance, Britannia, Sun Pharma and HUL, closing between 0.4 per cent and 4.0 per cent higher, were the top blue-chip gainers.

Tata Motors shares suffered steep losses—their worst single-day fall in more than a month—after UBS maintained its 'sell' rating for the Tata group auto major with a target price of Rs 825 apiece, implying a downside of 20.3 per cent from Tuesday's close.  

During the session, ITC shares rose to a record high amid a pickup in buying interest in FMCG stocks. Read more ITC shares

Besides ITC, HUL and Sun Pharma were the two other blue-chip stocks to scale 52-week highs. 

Overall market breadth turned negative in the final hour of trade, after remaining largely neutral with a positive bias throughout the session, with an advance-decline ratio of 7:10 as 1,619 stocks rose while 2,345 fell on BSE.  

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