The Indian benchmark indices saw massive losses on Friday, with the Sensex settling at 84,236.11, falling by over 320 points, and the Nifty closing at 25,797.50 or nearly 94 points lower.
The top gainers in the markets today were stocks such as ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bharat Electronics, Sun Pharmaceuticals and ITC and the laggards included stocks like Asian Paints, PowerGrid, L&T, Infosys and TCS.
The broader markets painted red with the Nifty Midcap 50 index registering the sharpest decline of 0.37 per cent and on a sectoral basis, the Nifty Healthcare Index fell by 0.83 per cent and the Nifty Metal index gained 1.03 per cent.
During the early morning trade the markets had opened on a cautious note as the Sensex fell over 24 points to open trade at 84,531.65 and the Nifty declined 9.90 points to start trading at 25,881.
Profit Booking Drives Decline
Equity benchmark indices slipped over half a percent on Friday after a six-day winning streak, as profit booking and renewed foreign fund outflows weighed on sentiment in sectors like banking, financial services, FMCG, IT and auto stocks.
At 1:45 p.m., the Sensex was down 527.99 points, or 0.62 per cent, at 84,028.41, while the Nifty dropped 158.40 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 25,733.
“As the undercurrent vibes of the domestic market have improved due to a possible India-US deal and a rise in consumer demand, the broad market is expected to do much better henceforth,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments Limited.
He added that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are gradually returning to Indian markets, buoyed by expectations of an earnings rebound in the second half of FY26, supported by festive demand, tax incentives, and GST reductions.
