Stock Market Highlights: Sensex ends 4-day winning streak, slips 153 pts; Nifty closes below 25,050.

Indian equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, edged lower on Wednesday, breaking a four-session rally as investors opted for profit booking, with financial stocks leading the decline. Weakness in banking counters offset the strength in IT shares ahead of the quarterly earnings season. The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 153 points (0.19%) to settle at 81,773.66, while the NSE Nifty 50 shed 62 points (0.25%) to close at 25,046.15. Financials declined about 0.5%, halting a six-session uptrend that had seen a 3% advance. The earlier momentum was driven by the Reserve Bank of India’s initiatives to stimulate credit growth and upbeat pre-earnings updates from banks for the September quarter. The auto sector weakened 1.5%, led by

, which slumped 2.4% after its luxury subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover forecast softer second-quarter volumes. Conversely, the IT index jumped 1.5% ahead of Tata Consultancy Services’ quarterly results scheduled for Thursday, with TCS itself gaining 1.8%. Industries dipped 1.3%, impacted by profit booking following a 1.6% advance over the last two sessions. Meanwhile, Titan Company surged 4.3% after posting a stronger-than-anticipated pre-quarterly update. In the broader markets, small-cap stocks declined 0.5%, while mid-caps slipped 0.7%, reflecting mild overall weakness across segments. Investment in securities market are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing.