SENSEX, NIFTY50 resume decline after a day's pause; IT stocks outperform, FMCG shares fall

The Indian equity benchmarks resumed their downward journey after a day's pause in the previous session dragged down by losses in FMCG heavyweight Hindustan Unilever after its June quarter earnings failed to impress investors. However, the downside was capped owing to buying interest in information technology (IT) shares.

For most part of the day, benchmarks traded in a narrow band as SENSEX moved in a range of 316 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,041 and a low of 23,955 as July NIFTY50 futures and option contracts expired.

In July series, NIFTY50 index advanced 0.5%.

The SENSEX ended 70 points lower at 76,765.92 and NIFTY50 index declined 11 points to settle at 23,985.35.

Asian markets ended sharply lower as a selloff in chipmakers deepened after investors grew cautious about intensifying competition from China and sharp decline in SK Hynix's US listed shares.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 3.83%, South Korea's KOSPI dropped 10.84% and China's Shanghai Composite declined 1.2%.

Back home, nine of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended lower led by the NIFTY FMCG index's 1.4% fall. FMCG shares came under selling pressure after Hindustan Unilever's June quarter earnings failed to impress investors.

The FMCG player reported a 3% year-on-year (YoY) decline in its consolidated net profit to ₹2,673 crore in the first quarter of FY27, compared with ₹2,756 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, according to a regulatory filing.

The company saw its bottom line fall following a one-off tax credit during the quarter.

Its revenue from operations grew 10.05% YoY to ₹17,341 crore during the quarter under review, as against ₹15,757 crore in the June quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal year (Q1 FY26).

NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Media, Metal, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Consumer Durables indices fell between 0.1% and 0.9%.

On the other hand, NIFTY IT index advanced 3.32% after Coforge surprised the Street by posting better than anticipated quarterly earnings.

Realty, consumer durables, auto, pharma and healthcare shares also witnessed buying interest.

Hindustan Unilever was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock dropped 7% to close at ₹2,020.

Bharat Electronics, Coal India, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Tata Consumer Products, Dr Reddy's Labs, Power Grid and Adani Enterprises also fell between 1% and 4.5%.

On the flip side, Tata Consultancy Services, Eternal, Tech Mahindra, Nestle India, Cipla, Titan, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, HCL Technologies and Wipro were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,133 shares ended lower while 1,160 closed higher on the NSE.