The Indian stock market ended lower on Thursday, with the Sensex declining 125.56 points, or 0.17%, to settle at 73,123.83, while the Nifty 50 declined 87.65 points, or 0.39%, to close at 22,600. According to The Financial Express, this marked a continuation of Wednesday's decline when the Sensex had fallen 143.21 points to 73,709.69 and the Nifty 50 settled 77.60 points lower at 22,811.35. The decline was attributed to selling pressure across most sectors, with the market showing weakness despite some positive global cues. However, the market erased all gains and plunged into the deep red during Wednesday afternoon trading, with Sensex and Nifty falling nearly 2% from their respective day's highs as multiple headwinds weighed on sentiment. On Thursday, the Sensex tumbled as much as 1.1% to hit an intraday low of 72,452.37, while the Nifty 50 tanked as much as 1.4% to reach the session's low of 22,372.
Broader market indices witnessed severe selling pressure, with Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices crashing up to 2.94% and 3% respectively. Among the sectors, Nifty Auto, Nifty Metal and Nifty Consumer Durables indices dropped more than 2% each. The sharp decline in mid and smallcap stocks indicates that the selling pressure was broad-based across market segments, with investors showing risk-off sentiment across multiple sectors. This contrasts with the relatively modest decline in benchmark indices, suggesting that large-cap stocks provided some support to the overall market performance. Nifty Midcap 100 ended lower by 2.21% or 1,263.30 points at 55,800.65, while Nifty Smallcap 100 tanked 2.94% or 536.45 points to end at 17,739.45. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index was weighed down by a sell-off in the shares of Swiggy, which closed 16.75% after the company reported its Q2 FY27 results post-market hours on Thursday.
Asian markets struggled in early Thursday trade, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling nearly 1% and South Korea's Kospi cracking 2.25%, as reported by Business Standard. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.35%. US markets had opened higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping 8.09 points, or 0.02%, to 52,487.79 at 9:31 a.m. The S&P 500 gained 12.87 points, or 0.15%, to 7,724.27, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 127.66 points, or 0.48%, to 26,554.14. Upbeat results from SpaceX and Super Micro Computer lifted sentiment around artificial intelligence and space stocks, though a weaker-than-expected profit forecast from Netflix weighed on the streaming company's shares. Brent crude rose 1.1% to $110.03 a barrel, near a five-month high, amid geopolitical tensions in the Gulf region, with prices surging over $114 per barrel as tensions escalated in the Middle East.
The Q2 earnings season for FY27 continues with 53 companies scheduled to announce their quarterly results, as reported by Live Mint. Key companies in focus include Swiggy, Adani Energy Solutions, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Adani Total Gas, and Colgate-Palmolive (India). According to The Financial Express, Swiggy reported a net loss of ₹922 crore in Q2FY27, an improvement from the ₹1,092 crore loss in Q2FY26 and ₹791 crore loss in Q1FY27. Swiggy's revenue stood at ₹7,571 crore, up 36.14% year-on-year from ₹5,561 crore. HPCL's net profit fell 6% year-on-year to ₹3,625 crore against ₹3,859 crore in the year-ago period, though the company bounced back into profit from a ₹12,264 crore loss in the trailing quarter. Colgate-Palmolive India reported a net profit of ₹341.5 crore, up 4% YoY with revenue rising 12% to ₹1,705.7 crore, though EBITDA margin contracted to 28% from 31%. Godrej Properties stock fell as the real estate firm reported a 62% decline in its consolidated profit to ₹154 crore for Q2 FY27, compared to ₹405 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Several companies announced significant developments, according to NDTV Profit reports. Bharat Electronics received orders worth ₹1,011 crore since its October 13 disclosure. PC Jeweller reported strong quarterly performance with consolidated net profit up 58% to ₹330.66 crore versus ₹210 crore in the previous year, with total income rising 28% to ₹1,054.47 crore. Eternal (parent entity of Zomato and Blinkit) reported consolidated net profit of ₹125 crore in Q2 with revenue from operations at ₹24,138 crore, while Blinkit added 308 net new stores taking its network to 2,751 stores. SRF delivered impressive results with consolidated net profit up 31% to ₹509.12 crore and total income rising to ₹4,929.14 crore. Aye Finance showed strong growth with net profit more than doubling to ₹87 crore and total income at ₹527 crore. IHCL reported consolidated profit up 19.35% to ₹379.85 crore with revenue from operations at ₹2,484.32 crore.
