Stock Market Today: Amid worries about US debt and the budget, the major stock market indexes, the Sensex and Nifty, declined in early trade on Thursday, following dismal global equities trends. The 30-share BSE benchmark index, the Sensex, fell 578.3 points to 81,018.33 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dropped 203.45 points to 24,610.

Later, the BSE benchmark fell 746.48 points to 80,832.82, while the Nifty quoted 233.80 points down at 24,575.65.

Top Winners and Losers

Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Nestle, HCL Tech, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services, and ITC were the biggest laggards among the Sensex businesses. IndusInd Bank and Adani Ports both profited simultaneously.

International Markets

While the Kospi in South Korea, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong were all trading down in Asian markets, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index was in the positive zone. US markets fell sharply on Wednesday.

The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude, dropped 0.05 percent to USD 64.88 a barrel. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) began buying on Wednesday after taking a day off. They bought shares worth Rs 2,201.79 crore based on exchange data.

The BSE benchmark closed at 81,596.63 on Wednesday, up 410.19 points, or 0.51%. The Nifty rose 129.55 points, or 0.52%, to 24,813.45.