Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Thursday, as most of the sectors traded in red amid profit booking. Markets opened slightly higher, tracking positive cues from global markets. However, markets erased initial gains and traded near neutral lines amid selling pressure from foreign investors. During the last leg of trade, benchmarks added some more losses and ended the session in red.

Some of the important factors in trade:

Persistent FIIs selling: Sentiments remained downbeat as Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 1,067.01 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

India’s services sector activity softens to 58.9 in October: Sentiments were weak as the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index slowed down to 58.9 in October from 60.9 in September.

India, US holding continuous discussions for proposed bilateral trade agreement: Investors overlooked Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India and the U.S. are holding continuous discussions for the proposed bilateral trade agreement.

Global front: European markets were trading in red ahead of a key Bank of England interest-rate decision. Asian markets ended in green amid upbeat private US economic data and growing expectations that the US Supreme Court may reject the Trump administration's aggressive trade policy.  

The BSE Sensex ended at 83311.01, down by 148.14 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 83237.65 and 83846.35. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.19%, while Small cap index down by 1.53%. (Provisional)

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities down by 2.20%, Metal down by 2.03%, Power down by 1.96%, Basic Materials down by 1.76% and Realty down by 1.51%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 4.76%, Reliance Industries up by 1.62%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.02%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.00% and TCS up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corp down by 3.15%, Eternal down by 2.44%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.67%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.45% and ICICI Bank down by 1.21% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India consistently protects the interests of vulnerable sectors like dairy, farmers and MSMEs in free trade agreements (FTAs). The remarks are important as New Zealand is a major dairy player in the world, and it may seek greater market access in the sector. 

The minister said that significant progress has been made in the negotiations of the proposed trade agreement with New Zealand. He said the fourth round of negotiations is underway for a pact between senior officials of India and New Zealand. He noted that both countries have agreed to respect each other's sensitivities. He added that India has never given any duty concessions in any of its previous trade agreements. Dairy and agri are politically sensitive areas.

He further said ‘we respect each other's sensitivities--we will not touch such issues and a trade deal is clearly on the table’. However, he said that India can look at increasing cooperation in farming technologies, like dairy machinery. When asked if more rounds of negotiations would happen, he said ‘we may not need many more rounds as significant progress has been made’. He also said that various sectors hold huge potential between India and New Zealand to enhance cooperation, including in defence, agriculture, space, education and tourism sectors.

The CNX Nifty ended at 25509.70, down by 87.95 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 25491.55 and 25679.15. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 4.67%, Reliance Industries up by 1.56%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.04%, Interglobe Aviation up by 0.99% and Tata Consumer Products up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 6.31%, Hindalco down by 5.17%, Adani Enterprises down by 4.36%, Power Grid Corp down by 3.17% and Eternal down by 2.50% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; France’s CAC fell 43.83 points or 0.55% to 8,030.40, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 38.38 points or 0.39% to 9,738.70 and Germany’s DAX lost 56.74 points or 0.24% to 23,993.00.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Thursday tracking Wall Street’s gains overnight after Advanced Micro Devices third-quarter earnings beat lifted artificial intelligence-linked shares, while recent US economic data, specifically robust ISM services PMI figures and a stronger-than-expected ADP jobs data outweighed jitters over inflated tech stock valuations. Chinese shares gained after the country's ministry of finance raised $4 billion at rates equivalent to US Treasury yields in its return to the international bond market. Moreover, Japanese shares rose sharply as investors digested data that showed Japan's services sector continued its growth for the seventh consecutive month in October. The S&P Global final Japan Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slipped slightly to 53.1 in October from 53.3 in September, maintaining a seventh consecutive month above the 50.0 mark, which separates growth from contraction.