- Indian markets dropped Wednesday; oil, West Asia tensions weighed.
- Broader market weakness spread; pharma, banking sectors declined.
- Auto stocks gained; Bandhan Bank plummeted on outlook change.
Dalal Street remained firmly bearish in Wednesday’s morning trade. At around 11:20 am, the Sensex stood at 76,872.62, down 597.49 points or 0.77 per cent, while the Nifty 50 traded at 24,037.65, lower by 150.05 points or 0.62 per cent. Rising crude oil prices, renewed tensions in West Asia and pressure on the rupee kept investors cautious despite supportive overseas markets. The weakness extended beyond frontline stocks.
The Nifty Bank declined 587.65 points, or 1.02 per cent, to 57,247.70. The Nifty Midcap 100 slipped 0.58 per cent to 62,621.25, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 0.97 per cent to 19,239.
The sharper decline in smallcaps indicated that risk aversion had spread across the broader market rather than remaining limited to index heavyweights. Auto stocks provided the only meaningful pocket of strength, with the Nifty Auto index gaining 0.35 per cent. Strong quarterly performances from Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor supported the sector.
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On the losing side, the Nifty PSU Bank index dropped 1.40 per cent, Nifty Pharma declined 1.25 per cent and Nifty Bank lost 1.02 per cent. Pharmaceutical shares came under pressure after the US announced plans for steep tariffs on imported generic medicines, raising fresh concerns for Indian drug exporters. Among individual stocks, Bandhan Bank crashed about 14 per cent after management lowered its return on assets outlook despite reporting an improvement in quarterly profit and asset quality. Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor gained more than 3 per cent each following strong results.
BlueStone Jewellery jumped around 8 per cent to Rs 785 after reporting a Q1 net profit of Rs 14 crore, compared with a loss of Rs 21 crore in the year earlier period. The latest provisional cash market data for Tuesday, July 21, showed that foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs 1,650.16 crore.
Domestic institutional investors, however, recorded net selling of Rs 656.88 crore. The divergence suggests that domestic institutions booked some profits even as overseas investors provided limited support. Global markets offered a positive backdrop, but domestic sentiment remained dominated by oil and currency concerns.
The S&P 500 rose 0.9 per cent, the Dow gained 0.7 per cent and the Nasdaq advanced 1.3 per cent in the previous US session. Asian markets were also mostly higher. However, Brent crude at around USD 92.67 per barrel and the rupee near 96.36 against the US dollar outweighed those gains. For the remainder of the session, Nifty’s 24,000 mark remains the immediate pivot.
A recovery above 24,100 could improve Intraday sentiment, while the 24,270 to 24,300 zone may act as a stronger hurdle. Traders will also track results from Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Nestle India, Eternal, IndusInd Bank and major energy companies, along with crude prices, the rupee and fresh geopolitical developments. The market remains highly sensitive to headlines, making disciplined position sizing more important than reacting to every intraday move.
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