Market Wrap, March 26: Indices snap seven-day rally, SENSEX falls 720 pts, NIFTY50 settles below 23,500 mark; NTPC top loser

Snapping seven days of rally, the Indian stock market on Wednesday, March 26, closed negative as market investors are awaiting more clarity on trade war tariffs and profit booking. However, US President Donald Trump had signalled recently of possible exemptions in tariffs on multiple countries.

Foreign investors buying the domestic equity market failed to cheer the investors. SENSEX slipped below the 78,000 mark while NIFTY50 settled below the 22,500 levels.

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 77,288.50, falling 728.69 points, or 0.93%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 23,486.85, declining 181.80 points, or 0.77%.

The broader market continued to remain under pressure on Wednesday, with small-cap gauges slipping over 1%.

The NSE data showed that the market breadth was largely in favour of negatives, as 2,303 stocks declined out of 2,985 stocks traded during the session.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers for the fourth consecutive session as they purchased equities worth ₹5,371.57 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to exchange data. The domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold equities worth ₹2,767 crore.

Globally, the US markets closed positive for the third consecutive day as the Dow Jones and S&P 500 gained modestly, while the NASDAQ jumped nearly half a percentage point.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.16% to end the session at 5,776.65 points, and the Nasdaq gained 0.46% to 18,271.86 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.01% to 42,587.50 points.

Following the US markets, almost all Asian indices were positive except for China’s Shanghai Composite. Hong Kong Hang Seng was 0.59% higher at 23,483.32 and South Korea’s Kospi was at 2,643.94, rising 1.06%.

Elsewhere, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 065% to 38,027.29 while Shanghai Composite slipped were marginally lower by 0.04% at 3,368.70.

Rising oil prices also dampened the sentiment. Concerns about tighter global supply grew, making the oil prices rise to almost three-week highs after the US threat of tariffs on nations buying Venezuelan crude.

Brent crude futures gained 49 cents, or 0.67%, to $73.51 a barrel by 0950 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 48 cents, or 0.70%, to $69.48 a barrel.

As many as 2,985 stocks traded on the NSE on Wednesday. Out of this, 2,303 declined and only 622 stocks advanced, while 60 scripts remained unchanged.

A total of 23 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 187 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 62 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 180 touched their lower circuit bands on Wednesday.

Market capitalisation of NSE-listed firms stood at ₹409.08 lakh crore.

The volatility index India VIX also declined 1.21% to 13.47 levels.

The broader market declined at close as Nifty Midcap 100 settled 0.62% lower at 51,646.15, while Nifty Smallcap 100 tanked 1.07% to the 15,936.75 level.

Except for Nifty Auto (0.02%), all the other sectoral gauges ended lower. Nifty Media (-2.40), Nifty Midsmall Healthcare (-1.69%), Nifty Oil and Gas (-1.36%), Nifty Realty (-1.29%), Nifty Healthcare Index (-1.28%) and Nifty PSU Bank (-1.19%) were the top losing sectors.

NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Cipla, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance were the biggest laggards, tumbling as much as 3.52%.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Trent, Hero MotoCorp, Grasim and Power Grid were the top gainers on the NIFTY50 index, rising as much as 3.34%.

The power giant on Wednesday said its Group installed power generation capacity has reached 77,806.50 MW with the beginning of commercial operation of its 245 Nokh Solar project.

Upon successful commissioning, the 245 MW capacity of NTPC's Nokh Solar PV Project, Rajasthan, is declared on commercial operation with effect from 00:00 hours of March 26, 2025, according to a regulatory filing.

The downgrade was mainly amid expectations of rising losses in quick commerce and slowing food growth, BofA Securities said in a note.

The company will raise through domestic bonds, capital gain tax-exempted bonds rupee term loans, and other instruments in the next financial year. The borrowing plan includes raising ₹1.55 lakh crore from domestic bonds, capital gain tax-exempted bonds, rupee term loans from financial institutions and banks, as well as external commercial borrowing, the state-owned firm said in a stock regulatory filing.