Key Indian stock indexes Sensex and the Nifty50 ended notably lower on Thursday as several stocks from across various sectors stayed weak almost right through the trading session with investors largely making cautious moves.
Profit taking after three successive days of gains, and geopolitical concerns contributed a bit to market’s weakness.
Metals, auto, realty and consumer durables stocks were among the notable losers.
The benchmark BSE Sensex, which dropped to a low of 83,151.62, settled at 83,313.93, down 503.76 points or 0.6% from previous close, while the broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange ended with a loss of 133.20 points or 0.52% at 25,642.80, off the day’s low of 25,579.50.
Eternal, down 2.5%, was the biggest loser in the Sensex. Bharti Airtel, BEL, ITC and Infosys closed lower by 1%-1.7%.
Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Titan and HCL Technologies lost 0.8%-1%. Hind Unilever, Larsen & Toubro, Indigo, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank also closed weak.
Trent climbed nearly 3%, lifted by a 36.3% jump in standalone net profit in the third quarter of FY26, over the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
Tata Steel advanced 1.3%, while State Bank of India gained 0.5%.
Hindalco, down 3%, was the biggest loser in the Nifty50 index. Eicher Motors closed 1.1% down, while SBI Life, Coal India, Shriram Finance and HDFC Life ended lower by 0.3%-0.8%.
Max Health, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Grasim Industries, Jio Financials Services, ONGC, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Cipla closed higher.
Vedanda, Hindustan Zinc, National Aluminium, NMDC and Hindustan Copper lost ground.
Indian Oil Corporation moved up sharply after the company reported a whopping 322% jump in net profit for the third quarter of financial year 2025-26, compared to a year earlier.
The market breadth was weak. On BSE, 2,447 stocks closed weak, and 1,737 stocks moved higher. 164 stocks ended flat.
Sensex, Nifty Snap 3-day Winning Run, Settle Moderately Lower
2026-02-05 11:03:20
