Mumbai, Oct 17 : The Indian benchmark indices closed in red on Thursday as there was a weak sentiment in the market due to lower corporate earnings.

The BSE Sensex closed at 81,006.61 after slipping 494.75 points or 0.61 per cent.

NSE Nifty closed at 24,749.85 after slipping 221.45 points or 0.89 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed in the red at 58,465.95 after slipping 985,90 points or 1.66 per cent. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed at 19,065 after slipping 238.95 points or 1.24 per cent. Nifty Bank closed at 24,749.85 after slipping 512.25 points or 0.99 per cent.

All sectors of Nifty except IT were under pressure. There was selling in all sectors like Auto, PSU Bank, Fin Services, Pharma, FMCG, Metal, Media, Private Bank, Realty, Infra, Energy, Healthcare and Oil & Gas. The market trend remained negative.

On BSE, 1,242 shares were trading in green, 2,695 shares in red, and 102 shares closed without any change.

Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid Corp, and L&T were among the top gainers in Nifty. Bajaj Auto, Shriram Finance, Nestle, and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the top losers.

Nestle India, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Maruti, Bharti Airtel and NTPC were among the top losers in the Sensex pack. Infosys, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, L&T, SBI and HCL Tech were among the top gainers.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,436 crore on October 16, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 2,256.29 crore on the same day.

According to market experts, the domestic market experienced a downturn, influenced by a mixed global trend and partial profit-booking.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said: "The Nifty has found initial support in the 24,700'24,750 zone. On the daily chart, the Nifty has broken down from a bearish flag pattern, suggesting a possible downward move in the short term. The RSI is showing a bearish crossover and is declining. However, this may not be the ideal level to initiate short positions, as the index has experienced a steep correction and is near double-bottom support, which could trigger a near-term recovery toward 25,000."

/IANS