Domestic markets recovered marginally from early losses in the mid-session on Thursday, though volatility persisted as investors weighed rising oil prices, rupee movements and weak global cues. Precious metals gold and silver also staged a cautious tone.
Oil prices surged more than 6 per cent while Asian equities declined after in his first national address since the conflict began, dampening global sentiment.
Benchmark indices saw sharp cuts earlier in the day, with the BSE Sensex falling over 1,588 points and the Nifty 50 dropping 497 points from the previous close.
By 1.06 pm, the Sensex was trading lower by 1,071.10 points or 1.46 per cent at 72,063.22, while the Nifty 50 declined 345.00 points or 1.52 per cent to 22,334.40.
Sectoral performance
, with the Bank Nifty hovering near a one-year low following the Reserve Bank of India’s measures to curb rupee speculation.
Broader markets also witnessed selling, with both midcap and smallcap indices declining over 1.5 per cent, reflecting risk-off sentiment among investors.
On the sectoral front, IT and telecom stocks showed relative resilience, while banking, financials and consumer durable stocks led the losses, falling 2–3 per cent.
Nifty 50 gainers, IT stocks stage resilience
Among the Nifty 50 constituents, HCL Technologies, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Tata Consumer Products, Hindalco Industries and Wipro posted modest gains. On the downside, Eternal, Jio Financial Services, Asian Paints, Adani Enterprises and Eicher Motors were among the key laggards.
Market breadth remained weak, with 3,157 stocks traded on the NSE at the time of writing. Of these, 1,110 advanced, while 1,964 declined and 84 remained unchanged. Around 20 stocks touched their 52-week highs, whereas 120 hit fresh 52-week lows. Additionally, 94 stocks were locked in the upper circuit, while 50 hit the lower circuit.
Midcap and smallcap movers
In the midcap space, Page Industries, Coforge, Persistent Systems, Mphasis and KPIT Technologies gained between 0.5 per cent and 3 per cent. However, SRF, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Indian Bank and Bank of India declined 4–5 per cent.
Among smallcaps, Tata Chemicals and Ola Electric, along with Signature Global and Anand Rathi, rose 2–9 per cent. On the other hand, Karur Vysya Bank, CGCL, PGEL and GRSE slipped 6–7 per cent, adding to the broader market weakness.
On the BSE, Latent View, Tata Chemicals, V Mart and Ola Electric zoomed 7-14 per cent, while Acutaas Chemicals, PGEL, CGCL, ixigo and UBL dragged 6-9 per cent.