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EQUITY
Key gauges end lower for fifth straight session
Jul-24-2026

Indian equity benchmarks ended around half percent lower on Friday, extending the losing streak for the fifth consecutive session, as investors remained cautious due to rising oil prices amid geopolitical tensions in West Asia and renewed concerns over US trade tariffs. Fresh foreign fund outflows and selling in Auto and Telecom stocks also dented market sentiment. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

India’s private sector activity witnesses slowest pace of expansion in July: India’s private sector activity in July witnessed the slowest pace of expansion since March 2022, amid intensified inflationary pressures. New orders rose further, but the pace of expansion receded to the weakest in close to four-and-a-half years and was moderate by historical standards. 

India, Romania agree to boost bilateral trade, defence cooperation: India and Romania have agreed to double their bilateral trade over the next three years. The two countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation in defence, among other key areas of bilateral partnership. 

Ind-Ra projects India's EV penetration to rise to 10-12% of total vehicle sales in FY27: India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said that India's electric vehicle (EV) market is entering a broader scale-up phase, with EV penetration expected to rise to 10-12 per cent of total vehicle sales in FY27, up from 8.5 per cent in FY26, led primarily by the growing adoption of electric two-wheelers (e-2Ws).

Airline stocks remain in watch: Ratings agency ICRA in its latest report has said that India’s domestic air passenger traffic is likely to grow by 3-6 per cent in FY27. However, it has maintained a negative outlook on the country's aviation industry, citing profitability concerns and industry-wide challenges. 

Global front: European markets were trading higher as the preliminary data from S&P Global showed an improvement in French private sector activity in the month of July. Asian markets settled mostly lower as surging oil prices amid escalating Middle East tensions fueled concerns over energy-driven inflation. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 331.62 points or 0.43% to 76,059.77 and the CNX Nifty was down by 102.15 points or 0.43% to 23,767.45. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 76,210.95 and 75,474.43, respectively. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.   

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.66%, FMCG up by 0.20% and Bankex up by 0.18%, while Auto down by 0.96%, Telecom down by 0.90%, Power down by 0.67%, Consumer Disc down by 0.65% and Oil & Gas down by 0.65% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.17%, ITC up by 0.71%, Trent up by 0.66%, TCS up by 0.46% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.42%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 2.71%, Eternal down by 2.35%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.97%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.72% and Asian Paints down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to improve India's outbound shipments without impacting the businesses of small retailers, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has permitted foreign direct investment (FDI) in an inventory-based model of e-commerce ‘exclusively’ for export purposes.

It said ‘In order to facilitate greater exports through easier and increased access of global markets by Indian sellers, the extant FDI Policy has been reviewed and it is decided that the restrictions on inventory-based model of e-commerce shall not apply in case of exports of domestically manufactured and/or produced goods/products’.

FDI is permitted in Business to Business (B2B) e-commerce and marketplace model. However, it is not permitted in Business to Consumer (B2C) e-commerce and inventory-based model of e-commerce where inventory of goods and services is owned by an ecommerce entity and is sold to consumers directly.

The DPIIT has inserted a clause in the policy, which states: ‘An e-commerce entity is permitted to engage in inventory-based model of ecommerce exclusively for the export of goods/products manufactured and/or produced in India as per the applicable provisions of the Foreign Trade Policy 2023...and the Foreign Exchange Management (Export of Goods & Services) Regulations, 2015’.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 23,823.60 and 23,606.30, respectively. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 1.95%, Cipla up by 1.15%, Wipro up by 0.99%, ITC up by 0.96% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 2.47%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.00%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.00%, Shriram Finance down by 1.93% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.63% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 33.12 points or 0.31% to 10,672.29, France’s CAC rose 34.51 points or 0.41% to 8,333.60 and Germany’s DAX gained 201.78 points or 0.81% to 24,964.90. 

Asian markets settled mostly lower on Friday tracking Wall Street’s fall overnight as US President Doanld Trump threatened both Iran and Yemen's Houthi rebels with ‘major military punishment’ after Houthis launched missile and drone strikes on oil tankers in the Red Sea to enforce a blockade on Saudi Arabia, which pushed the price of benchmark Brent crude past $100 for the first time since May. Market sentiments weakened further after the United States imposed new tariffs of either 10% or 12.5% on goods from its top 60 trading partners, including China, India, Japan and the European Union, accusing them of failing to halt imports of goods made with forced labor. China faces a new 12.5% levy, raising its effective US tariff rate to 22.2%. Japanese markets tumbled after data showed that Japan's core inflation rate rose to 1.6% in June but stayed below the Bank of Japan's 2% target for the fifth month in a row. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen was pinned near 40-year lows, drawing a warning from the US Treasury Department that excess volatility in the currency was undesirable. The Treasury also called for further interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan. Moreover, South Korea’s Kospi index plummeted nearly 6% amid concerns that the semiconductor super cycle may have passed its peak.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,814.20

-62.58

-1.61

Hang Seng

24,963.23

-247.58

-0.98

Jakarta Composite

6,196.43

-118.88

-1.92

KLSE Composite

1,701.02

-13.57

-0.79

Nikkei 225

64,611.15

-1,811.45

-2.73

Straits Times

5,588.34

6.58

0.12

KOSPI Composite

6,690.62

-406.27

-5.72

Taiwan Weighted

43,654.84

-1,195.97

-2.67
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