The BSE Sensex declined 208.12 points to 77,759.18 and the NSE Nifty 50 fell 104.70 points to 24,332.75 as benchmark indices traded in negative territory during Thursday's session. According to Business Standard, the Nifty traded below the 24,350 mark, while sentiment remained subdued amid a lack of strong directional cues. Markets extended their losing streak to a third consecutive session, with Titan, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Infosys among the major laggards. InterGlobe Aviation, Tech Mahindra, Eternal and NTPC were among the winners in early trade. The benchmarks experienced sharp intraday swings, falling nearly 1% at one point during the session but recovering most of their losses by the close. Gift Nifty was trading around the 24,423.50 level, down nearly 50 points from the Nifty futures' previous close, indicating a flat start for Thursday's session. Market breadth remained weak with 296 of the Nifty 500 stocks closing in the red and the Advance-Decline ratio favouring decliners at 1.3:1.
Oil prices remained elevated near $89 per barrel as Washington and Tehran remained deadlocked over efforts to end the Gulf war, according to Business Standard. Brent crude futures fell $1.29 or 1.5% to $87.69 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined $1.30 or 1.6% to $81.97 a barrel. Prices came under pressure after US commercial crude inventories unexpectedly surged last week, recording their biggest weekly increase since January 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The rise was driven partly by a sharp decline in exports. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 0.82% lower at $88.25 per barrel in early Thursday trade. Intermittent US-Iran skirmishes, including the latest attack by the US military on a Panama-flagged container ship, and Iran's hardening stance on reopening the Strait of Hormuz could keep crude prices elevated and constrain the market. Oil & gas shares declined 0.80% to 11,203.45 after gaining for the previous two consecutive trading sessions, with major players like Chennai Petroleum Corporation (down 4.65%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 1.56%), and Reliance Industries (down 1.2%) among the top decliners.
As reported by Business Standard, among sectoral indices, PSU Bank, metal and Auto shares advanced while FMCG, Realty and pharma shares declined. The market breadth was positive with 2,080 shares rising and 1,870 shares falling on the BSE, while 263 shares remained unchanged. According to The Hindu BusinessLine, IT, consumer durables and oil & gas shares advanced while private bank, PSU Bank and FMCG shares declined. Nifty Pharma rose 1% and Nifty IT gained 0.6%, supported partly by strong quarterly numbers from Gland Pharma and a solid showing from Zydus Lifesciences, whose Q1 revenue rose 22% to ₹8,017 crore. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Eternal were among the Nifty's top individual gainers, while Tata Consumer Products and Max Healthcare lagged. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹1,002.50 crore on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, according to exchange data, marking a significant increase in foreign selling pressure.
Banking stocks declined significantly as heavyweight stocks dragged the sectoral losses amid the overall selling pressure in the broader indices. As reported by Upstox Securities, Nifty Bank declined 1% to 57,158 points as major banking stocks weighed on the overall market performance. The banking sector's weakness contributed to the broader market decline, with investors focusing on earnings announcements and global market developments. From the Sensex pack, InterGlobe Aviation, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, Eternal and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards, while Titan, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, and Infosys were among the gainers. State Bank of India shares fell more than 2% despite reporting strong Q1 FY27 results with standalone net profit rising 10% YoY to ₹21,121 crore, beating Street estimates.
Asian markets advanced on Thursday after U.S. inflation data came in as expected, dampening expectations of further near-term Federal Reserve rate hikes, according to Business Standard. U.S. consumer prices increased 0.1% in July, in line with widely reported expectations, with the small increase potentially weakening the argument for an interest rate increase from the Fed next month. Money markets are predicting a 40% chance of a rate hike, down from 54% a week ago, according to CME Group's FedWatch. Wall Street ended mixed overnight, with the S&P 500 climbing 0.26% to 7,748.50 points and the Nasdaq gaining 0.54% to 26,588.49 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.04% to 53,770.27 points. CoreWeave surged 19% after the AI cloud company lifted its annual capital spending forecast and topped second-quarter earnings estimates, while Nvidia rose 3% and Micron Technology added 4.9% on strong AI infrastructure results. In the IPO market, Shiprocket received bids for 15,08,33,760 shares as against 9,44,36,030 shares on offer, subscribed 1.60 times, while Behari Lal Engineering was subscribed 3.77 times and Milky Mist Diary Food was subscribed 3.89 times.
