Indian benchmark indices ended Tuesday's session lower, with the S&P BSE SENSEX declining 388.19 points or 0.49% to close at 78,154.25 and the NSE's NIFTY50 falling 112.10 points or 0.46% to end at 24,471.70. According to The Hindu, the Sensex tanked 494.18 points, or 0.62%, to 78,048.26 during intraday trading, before recovering to close near the day's lows. The market remained under pressure throughout the session, with the NIFTY hitting an intraday low of 24,429.25. As per HST Wealth's Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, the decline was attributed to a rebound in crude oil prices and volatility associated with the weekly F&O expiry, while Religare Broking's Ajit Mishra noted that markets traded under pressure amid renewed geopolitical concerns and rising crude oil prices. The BSE SmallCap Select index edged higher by 0.38%, while the MidCap Select index ended marginally lower by 0.01%, indicating selective buying interest in mid and small-cap stocks despite overall market weakness. The Nifty Bank index slipped 241 points to 57,446, while the Midcap index fell 12 points to 63,843, with indices adjusted by 22 points for Nifty, 6 points for Sensex and 80 points for Nifty Bank after the closing auction session.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers for the third consecutive session on Tuesday, August 11, with net purchases of ₹258.55 crore according to provisional data. FIIs bought equities worth ₹14,628.47 crore and sold shares worth ₹14,369.92 crore, resulting in net buying of ₹258.55 crore. This follows Monday's strong performance where FIIs were net buyers worth ₹1,974.76 crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) reversed their previous selling trend, turning net buyers with net purchases of ₹24.77 crore after selling ₹1,290.29 crore on Monday. The combined net buying by FIIs and DIIs stood at ₹283.32 crore, marking a significant institutional inflow despite the market decline. The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slipped 3.73% to 11.79.
According to LKP Securities' Senior Technical Analyst Rupak De, the Nifty50 index has fallen below critical near-term moving averages, indicating some weakness in the short-term trend. However, on the lower end, 24,400 remains an immediate support, and any decline is likely to find buying interest around this level. On the higher end, resistance is placed at 24,600–24,650. As De noted, "The sentiment is likely to remain positive as long as the index sustains above 24,400. However, the sentiment might weaken upon a decisive fall below 24,400." Market momentum is now shifting towards the upcoming U.S. Consumer Price Index data release due on Wednesday, which is expected to provide fresh direction for global interest-rate expectations and broader market sentiment. The NSE's India VIX, a measure of market fear, rose 3.73% to settle at 11.79 levels, indicating increased volatility expectations.
Among sectoral indices, Hospitals dropped 1.82%, realty declined 1.03%, FMCG fell 0.87%, commodities declined 0.80%, power dropped 0.54%, and capital goods fell 0.47%. However, Focused IT, Housing Finance, IT, Energy and Consumer Discretionary were the winners. From the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank, InterGlobe Aviation, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance and Power Grid were among the major laggards, while Eternal, Infosys, Titan, HCL Tech, and Tata Consultancy Services were the gainers. The realty sector continued its weakness with the Nifty Realty index declining 0.63% to 892.30, reversing gains from the past trading session where it had rallied 1.35%. Metal shares also declined with the Nifty Metal index falling 0.86% to 13,113.30, reversing gains from the past two consecutive trading sessions where it had rallied 0.77%. Among individual stocks, Max Health and Apollo Hospitals ended lower following recommendations by a parliamentary panel on hospital price caps. However, Zydus Life surged more than 7% after the company reported its Q1 results, while Kolte Patil gained 12% and Bosch rose 4% following strong Q1 results. Vedanta group companies came off their highs in the last hour of trade amid reports that promoters may buy and sell stakes in group companies, and MCX rose more than 4% after reports that SEBI may allow FPI trades in non-agricultural commodities.
The dominant headwind for the session remained the sharp rebound in crude oil prices, with Brent crude jumping 2.18% to $89.63 per barrel, as reported by The Hindu. As per Religare Broking's Ajit Mishra, Brent crude moved towards the USD 90 per barrel mark as hopes of an early US-Iran agreement faded. Geojit Investments' Vinod Nair noted that a sharp rebound in crude prices shifted market attention back to inflation risks, tempering investor enthusiasm despite a supportive earnings backdrop. Concerns over disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and US-Iran negotiations kept sentiment guarded, particularly ahead of key inflation prints in India and the US. The Indian rupee traded weaker, declining around 15 paise to ₹95.43 against the US dollar, compared with Monday's closing level of ₹95.30 per dollar, as the recent rally in crude oil prices put pressure on the domestic currency. In Asian markets, South Korea's KOSPI ended higher, while Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index settled lower, with equity markets in Japan closed due to a holiday. European markets were trading on a mixed note, while U.S. markets ended lower on Monday.
