Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 16 (ANI): The domestic stock markets erased their opening gains on Thursday and ended marginally lower as selling pressure and profit booking weighed on investor sentiment.

The NSE Nifty 50 index closed at 24,196.75, down by 34.55 points or 0.14 per cent, while the BSE Sensex ended at 77,988.68, declining by 122.56 points or 0.16 per cent.

Market experts noted that the indices started the session on a positive note but failed to sustain higher levels due to persistent selling during the day.

Sudeep Shah, Head - Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities, said the benchmark index witnessed a gap-up opening supported by global cues but came under pressure near intraday highs.

'Persistent profit-taking was seen across most of the trading session, which kept the index under pressure. In the last hour of trade, Nifty slipped to an intraday low of 24,102, following which a modest pullback was witnessed. Despite this late recovery, the index concluded the session marginally lower near the 24,200 mark,' he said.

Sectorally, the performance remained mixed. On the NSE, Nifty Auto declined by 0.38 per cent, Nifty PSU Bank fell by 0.17 per cent, and Nifty Private Bank dropped by 0.56 per cent. Nifty Oil & Gas index also slipped by 0.17 per cent.

On the gaining side, Nifty IT rose by 0.88 per cent, Nifty Metal surged by 1.53 per cent, and Nifty Media gained 0.59 per cent. Nifty FMCG also edged higher by 0.18 per cent.

In the commodities space, crude oil prices remained elevated, with Brent crude rising by 1.45 per cent to USD 96 per barrel. Gold prices continued their upward trend, increasing by 0.25 per cent to Rs 1,54,335 per 10 gram for 24 karat, while silver prices rose by 0.36 per cent to Rs 2,52,646 per kg.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee showed some recovery.

Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, said that after four sessions of weakness, the rupee gained ground as renewed risk-on sentiment led to foreign institutional investors returning to domestic equities.

'This recovery was supported by a declining trade deficit and reduced dollar demand. In the near term, the USDINR spot rate is expected to consolidate within a range of 92.80 to 93.50,' he said.

Asian markets showed a mixed trend. Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged by 2.42 per cent to 59,578, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 1.92 per cent to 26,456. Taiwan's weighted index gained 1.10 per cent to 37,132, and South Korea's Kospi advanced by 2 per cent to 6,226.

However, Singapore's Straits Times index declined by 0.27 per cent to 5,007. (ANI)