SENSEX, NIFTY50 erase intraday gains to end on a flat note

The Indian equity benchmarks erased intraday gains to end on a flat note on Thursday, July 16, amid heightened volatility owing to weekly expiry of SENSEX futures and option contracts.

The SENSEX fell as much as 493 points from the day's highest level and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,186 and a low of 24,050.

Gains in Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, Reliance Industries, Infosys and Maruti Suzuki were offset by losses in HDFC Bank, Eternal, Bharat Electronics and Axis Bank.

The SENSEX ended 1 point higher at 77,187 and NIFTY50 index slipped 6 points to close at 24,073.

Asian markets ended lower as crude oil prices jumped after Iran’s army said that it targeted communications systems, a fixed radar site and fuel depots of the US military at Jordan’s Azraq Air Base using attack drones, news agency Al Jazeera reported. Meanwhile, US Central Command said it has completed its latest wave of strikes against Iran.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.6%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 1.85% and South Korea's KOSPI index plunged 6.4% amid selloff in chipmakers.

Back home, eight of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended lower led by the NIFTY Realty index 1% decline. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Private Bank, PSU Bank and Metal indices also fell between 0.3% and 0.7%.

On the other hand, auto, IT, FMCG, media and consumer durable shares witnessed buying interest.

Broader markets ended on a subdued note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.4% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index slipped 0.1%.

Among the individual shares, ABB surged 10% to hit a 52-week high level of ₹7,924.50 after the company’s parent firm said its India business’ order book inflow grew over 81% year-on-year.

ABB Global said its total orders rose to $12,042 million, marking a 30% increase, or 28% on a comparable basis. Its revenues for the quarter came in at $9,475 million, up 14%, while comparable revenue growth stood at 12%.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance shares tumbled as much as 15% after it posted a 46% drop in its net profit after tax (PAT) to ₹403.17 crore in the first quarter of the financial year ending 2026-27, compared year-on-year (YoY) with ₹747.08 crore in the same period a year ago.

HCL Technologies was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 1.86% to ₹1,190. InterGlobe Aviation, Wipro, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC and Tech Mahindra were also among top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

On the flip side, Eternal, SBI Life, Bajaj Finserv, Bharat Electronics, HDFC Bank, Shriram Finance, Cipla, Grasim, NTPC and Apollo Hospitals were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,776 shares ended lower while 1,543 closed higher on the NSE.