Stock market finished the last trading session of May in the red, as a sharp sell-off in technology, auto, and metal stocks dragged the indices.

Nifty opened at 24,812 and traded within a narrow range, touching an intraday high of 24,863 and a low of 24,717, while the Sensex skidded 182 points, or 0.22%, to settle at 81,451 points.

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At close, Sensex was down 182.01 points or 0.22% at 81,451.01, and the Nifty was down 82.90 points or 0.33% at 24,750.70. About 1,751 shares advanced, 2,087 shares declined, and 114 shares were unchanged.

Nifty Midcap 100 closed the session with a drop of 0.06%, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 ended with a marginal cut of 0.03%.

Among the major sectors, 12 ended the final session of the month in the red, with metal counters emerging as the top laggards.

Nifty Metal index slipped 1.69% in trade, while tech stocks witnessed another round of selling, dragging the Nifty IT index down by 1.15%.

Other sectoral indices, including Nifty Auto, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Realty, and Nifty FMCG, all closed in the red with losses ranging between 0.6% and 1%. Only the Nifty PSU Bank index managed to end the session with a gain of 2.88%.

State-owned banking stocks jumped sharply during the latter half of the trading session as investors pumped the Nifty PSU Bank index with significant capital.

On Nifty 50, only seven stocks managed to end higher including Eternal (4.98%), SBI (2.09%) and HDFC Bank (0.73%) ending as the top gainers while the shares of Bajaj Auto slipped 3.1% after the company posted a 6% rise in net profit to Rs 2,049 crore for the March quarter.

Bajaj Auto was down 3.10%, Hindalco Industries down by 2.51% and HCL Technologies down by 2% closing as the top losers in the index.

Prestige Estates stock declined by 1.1%, as investors reacted to a weaker-than-expected set of financial results for the fourth quarter.

Foreign portfolio inflows and optimism over India’s macroeconomic growth offered some cushion, but market breadth remained narrow. Analysts noted that traders were cautious ahead of key global economic data expected next week.