Closing Bell: Sensex falls 168 points, Nifty down 31 points

Indian equity benchmarks the Sensex and Nifty ended lower
on Wednesday, dragged down by losses in banking stocks amid weak global market
trends. The start of the day was on a lower note. However, in the afternoon
deals, key indices staged some recovery, as some losses got trimmed, amid
reports that India’s urban unemployment rate dipped to 7.6% during the
April-June quarter from 12.6% during the corresponding quarter a year ago.

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The Sensex declined by 168.08 points or 0.28% to settle at
59,028.91. During the day, it slipped 474.1 points or 0.80% to 58,722.89. The
Nifty fell 31.20 points or 0.18% to 17,624.40.

The broader indices ended in green with the BSE Midcap
index up by 0.46% and the Small cap index up by 0.73%. The top gaining sectoral
indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 0.94%, Telecom up by 0.87%,
Healthcare up by 0.69%, Consumer Durables up by 0.59%, and Industrials up by
0.43%, while Auto down by 1.12%, Power down by 0.91%, Utilities down by 0.75%
and Bankex down by 0.51% were the top losing indices on BSE.

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Major laggards from the Sensex pack were IndusInd Bank down
by 1.69%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.32%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.15%,
Bharti Airtel down by 1.08%, State Bank of India down by 0.95%, Tata Steel down
by 0.88%, ICICI Bank down by 0.85%, HDFC down by 0.72%, Tech Mahindra down by
0.71% and HCL Tech down by 0.65%.

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Among the gainers were UltraTech Cement up by 4.13%, Sun
Pharma up by 0.71%, TCS up by 0.71%, Wipro up by 0.69%, Bajaj Finance up by
0.56%, Axis Bank up by 0.54%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.48% and Titan Company up by
0.37%.

The rupee slipped 7 paise to close at 79.89 against the US
dollar following a strong dollar in overseas markets and losses in the domestic
equities.

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Asian markets ended mostly lower with the KOSPI Composite
down by 1.39%, the Nikkei 225 down by 0.71%, the Heng Seng down by 0.83%, and
the Shanghai Composite ended 0.09% higher.

European stock markets were trading mostly lower during the
mid-session deals. The US stock markets had ended with losses on Tuesday.

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Brent crude, the international oil benchmark rose by 0.99%
to $93.75 per barrel.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors (FIIs) were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 1,144.53 crore
on Tuesday.