Stock market updates: Sensex sheds 559 pts as IT stocks slump; Nifty slips below 25,850

Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Thursday, dragged down by a sharp sell-off in information technology stocks, even as select financial and defence counters offered some support. The BSE Sensex closed at 83,674.92, down 558.72 points or 0.66 per cent, after moving in a range of 83,516.67 to 84,061.62 during the session. The index had opened at 83,968.43 against the previous close of 84,233.64. The NSE Nifty 50 settled at 25,807.20, lower by 146.65 points or 0.57 per cent. The broader index touched an intraday high of 25,906.70 and a low of 25,752.40. Market breadth was negative, with 30 stocks declining and 20 advancing. IT rout weighs on benchmarks The day’s losses were led by frontline IT names, which witnessed heavy selling pressure. Tech Mahindra plunged 6.40 per cent, Infosys fell 5.97 per cent, TCS dropped 5.77 per cent and HCL Technologies declined 5.20 per cent. Wipro too slipped 4.79 per cent. The sharp correction in heavyweight IT counters offset gains in select financial and capital goods stocks, pulling both headline indices into the red. Financials, defence stocks offer support On the gaining side, Bajaj Finance rose 3.31 per cent to emerge as the top Nifty gainer. Shriram Finance advanced 2.48 per cent, while Eicher Motors climbed 2.13 per cent. ICICI Bank gained 1.84 per cent and Bharat Electronics added 1.47 per cent. Other notable gainers included Trent, SBI and Asian Paints, indicating selective buying interest in domestic-facing sectors. In the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank, SBI and Bajaj Finance capped the downside to some extent.