Closing bell: Sensex, Nifty close in red for a third consecutive session

Domestic bourses recovered nearly all of their intraday losses in a volatile session on December 14, as caution prevailed amid renewed concerns about the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The Indian equity markets fell for the third day in a row on Tuesday. They were majorly dragged by losses in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and HDFC Bank. The spread of the Omicron covid variant weighed on investor sentiment. This comes ahead of a series of central bank meetings this week, including the US Federal Reserve. During today's trade, the Sensex fell as much as 480 points and the Nifty index touched an intraday low of 17,225.

At the closing bell on Tuesday, the Sensex closed down by 166.33 points or 0.29% at 58117.09, and the Nifty ended 43.40 points or 0.25% at 17324.90. On the market depth, around 1695 shares have advanced, 1462 shares declined, and 109 shares are unchanged.

Top gainers on a turbulent trading session on the Nifty index were Power Grid Corporation, Nestle India, Axis Bank and Dr Reddy's Labs, whereas ITC, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.

In the sectors, power, pharma and oil & gas stocks ended in the green, while auto, FMCG and PSU Bank index ended in the red.

Among the trending stock of the day was Anand Rathi Wealth which opened at a 9% premium in its Mumbai market debut. The stock climbed to as high as Rs 615 on both the bourses before retreating. At the day's high, Anand Rathi stocks commanded a premium of 11.8% over the issue price.

Drugmaker Lupin Ltd surged 6.2% after its Goa manufacturing plant got the establishment inspection report from the US federal drug regulator.