FINAL TRADE: Equities end lower on weekly expiry, Nifty sheds 221 pts to end at 24,750, Sensex plunges 500 pts

Indian equities in Thursday's volatile trade after a mildly higher opening pared all their gains and ended sharply lower. The losses were amid a broad-based sell-off led by auto and realty stocks that plunged up to 3.5 per cent each.

At the close, Nifty ended 0.89 per cent or 221.45 points lower at 24,749.85, while Sensex settled 495 points or 0.61 per cent lower at 81,006.61.

Meanwhile, broader markets posted even sharper correction, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index knocked down by over 1.5 per cent or by 900 points, while Nifty Smallcap 100 index was down over 1 per cent.

From the Nifty pack, top gainers included stocks like Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation, L&T and SBI, while laggards included stocks such as Bajaj Auto, Shriram Finance, Nestle, M&M and Hero MotoCorp.

The auto stocks bleeded sharply probably as Bajaj Auto saw low offtake with comparatively lower volumes even during the current festivities. Sectorally, only the IT index ended in the green ahead of results from Infosys and Wipro later today.

Mr Atul Parakh, CEO of Bigul said, "The Nifty Auto Index fell sharply today, and one of the reasons could primarily be Tata Motors' drop amid concerns over its luxury division, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). Weakening demand and rising discounts, with Tata offering up to ₹2.05 lakh off vehicles ahead of the festive season. Additionally, JLR's order backlog has declined below pre-pandemic levels, raising further sales concerns."

In India, the consolidation around Nifty 25000 level is likely to be extended with bouts of FII selling and DII buying. The reemergence of outperformance of smallcaps driven by liquidity is again becoming a cause of concern, noted Dr. Vijaykumar, Geojit Financial Services.

European markets traded with gains as markets awaited the European Central Bank's interest rate decision later today. French CAC index was up over 1 per cent at the last count.