Indian benchmark indices traded in negative territory during Tuesday's afternoon session, with Sensex declining 638.27 points or 0.82% to 78,732.91 and Nifty 50 falling 307.95 points or 1.24% to 24,466.35 as of 14:30 IST. The Nifty 50 tumbled as much as 1.2% to touch the session's low of 24,474.10, while Sensex slumped as much as 0.35% to reach an intraday low of 78,362.84. The broader market outperformed frontline indices, with BSE 150 MidCap Index rising 0.01% and BSE 250 SmallCap Index jumping 0.38%. Market breadth remained negative with 2,067 shares rising and 2,097 shares falling on the BSE, while 198 shares remained unchanged. GIFT Nifty on the NSE traded higher by 68 points, or 0.28 per cent, at 24,431, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a positive start earlier in the week.
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) stock declined as much as 8.9% to hit an intraday low of ₹390.50 per equity share on Tuesday, as the offer for sale (OFS) floor price of ₹382 per share is below the prevailing market price. The long-awaited OFS in LIC finally opened on August 4, with the government launching a stake sale of up to 6.5% in the country's largest insurer. The government announced it will sell up to a 6.5% stake in LIC at a floor price of ₹382 per share through a two-day OFS, with the issue opening for non-retail investors on Tuesday and retail investors on Wednesday. If fully subscribed, the sale of over 82.22 crore shares, representing a 6.5% stake, is expected to fetch around ₹31,000 crore for the government's disinvestment kitty. Bharti Airtel shares declined more than 1% ahead of its earnings announcement for Q1 FY27, with experts expecting strong double-digit growth in revenue and net profit.
Ather Energy jumped 14.60% after the electric two-wheeler maker reported a sharp improvement in its Q1 FY27 financial performance. On a consolidated basis, the company's net loss narrowed to ₹51.09 crore in Q1 FY27 from ₹178.23 crore in Q1 FY26 and ₹100.23 crore in Q4 FY26. Revenue from operations surged 88.8% YoY and 3.6% QoQ to ₹1,216.92 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2026. The company management remained positive about strong EV two-wheeler demand environment in the domestic market, with structural tailwinds from both government policy and shifting customer sentiment amid the ethanol push. KEI Industries soared as much as 7.8% to hit an intraday high of ₹5,414 after reporting a 40.05% year-on-year surge in consolidated net profit to ₹274.14 crore in Q1 FY27, compared with ₹195.75 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
The Nifty Realty index shed 0.96% to 904.25, with major realty stocks declining significantly. Prestige Estates Projects fell 4.56%, Oberoi Realty dropped 3.79%, Godrej Properties declined 2.98%, DLF dropped 2.92%, and Sobha declined 0.91%. Aditya Birla Real Estate fell 0.78%, Brigade Enterprises dropped 0.63%, Lodha Developers declined 0.1%, and Phoenix Mills fell 0.01%. The index had jumped 1.46% in the past two trading sessions before Tuesday's decline. Hubtown rose marginally by 0.03% despite reporting a 68.56% year-on-year decline in consolidated net profit to ₹24.92 crore in Q1 FY27, compared with ₹79.28 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Revenue from operations declined 16.96% YoY to ₹155.62 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
The Reserve Bank of India's three-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting entered its second day on Tuesday, 4 August 2026, with RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra scheduled to announce the policy decision on Wednesday, 5 August 2026. Market participants will closely monitor the central bank's commentary on inflation, economic growth and the outlook for interest rates. In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index rose 0.01% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index jumped 0.38%, outperforming frontline indices. The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper shed 0.06% to 6.829 compared with the previous session close of 6.833. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 95.3700, unchanged from its close of 95.3700 in the previous trading session. Brent crude for the October 2026 settlement jumped $2.14 or 2.55% to $85.91 a barrel, while MCX Gold futures for the 5 October 2026 settlement rose 0.50% to ₹1,43,627.
