Mumbai: Despite a positive global trend, major stock indices could not hold on to early gains on Thursday and ended with losses for the third consecutive trading session. Earlier on Wednesday, the details of the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India were released, which affected the market sentiment.

Despite a positive opening, the 30-share BSE Sensex could not hold on to gains and ended the day down 241.02 points, or 0.39 per cent, at 60,826.22. Similarly, the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty fell 71.75 points, or 0.39 percent, to close at 18,127.35.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank and NTPC were among the losers in the Sensex pack. On the other hand, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers.

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Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The positive trend in global markets also failed to enthuse domestic equities. The release of the minutes of the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting also led to selling in the domestic market as the central bank made some tough comments.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that the mistake of pausing policy action at this juncture could prove costly. The central bank said that the fight against inflation is not over. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting on Thursday to review the situation in the country in view of the increasing infection of Kovid-19 in China and some other countries.

Mohit Nigam, Fund Manager, Hem Securities, said that despite the strength in the global markets, the enthusiasm of the domestic markets soon faded due to increasing cases of Kovid-19 infection in China, Japan, Korea and Brazil. In the broader markets, BSE Smallcap fell 1.83 per cent and Midcap 0.77 per cent.

Sector-wise, industrial index declined by 1.78 per cent, utility by 1.60 per cent, capital goods by 1.57 per cent, electricity by 1.49 per cent, realty by 1.33 per cent and vehicle by 1.05 per cent. In other Asian markets, South Korea’s Cospi, Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hangseng ended with gains, while China’s Shanghai Composite closed lower.

European markets were trading higher in mid-session deals. US markets closed with gains on Wednesday. International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.99 per cent to $83.01 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1,119.11 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional data from the stock market. (agency)