SENSEX, NIFTY50 resume decline after a day's pause dragged by Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro

The Indian equity benchmarks resumed their downward journey after a day's breather in the previous session as investor sentiment remained cautious tracking a surge in crude prices.

The SENSEX fell as much as 742 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 23,231 but the benchmarks came off intraday lows as crude prices dropped over 5% from their intraday high of $110 per barrel, it touched earlier in the session.

The SENSEX ended 121 points to close at 74,782 and NIFTY50 index declined 80 points to settle at 23,398.

Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India and Mahindra & Mahindra were top drags on the SENSEX.

Nine of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the NIFTY Realty index's nearly 1% fall. Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, PSU Bank, Auto and FMCG indices also fell between 0.3% and 0.8%.

On the other hand, banking, financial services, media and IT shares witnessed buying interest.

Broader markets also faced selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.26% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index dropped 0.6%.

Among the individual shares, Paytm surged as 4% to hit a 52-week high of ₹1,804.90 after analysts from Bernstein shared a positive outlook of the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led fintech firm.

Analysts at Bernstein in a note on Friday said they expect meaningful operating leverage from Paytm’s existing business. They added that the introduction of merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI could provide meaningful upside to the company’s profitability. Bernstein also said it sees a clear right to win for Paytm and a long growth runway in merchant lending.

Cochin Shipyard dropped 9% after the company’s management gave a lower-than-expected EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) margin guidance for the 2026-27 financial year (FY27).

Hindalco was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 3.2% to close at ₹981. JSW Steel, Eicher Motors, Tata Steel, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries and Coal India also fell between 1.3% and 3%.

On the flip side, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Life, Wipro, Kotak Mahindra Bank and InterGlobe Aviation were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,042 shares ended lower while 1,476 closed higher on the NSE.