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Markets continue to trade flat with positive bias
Aug-21-2026

Benchmarks continued to trade flat with positive bias during late afternoon deals as inflation related jitters owed high crude oil prices dampened market risk sentiment. Brent crude oil prices continued to trade above the $93 a barrel mark as tensions between US and Iran showed no signs of ease off. Further, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has indicated that US will impose the toughest sanctions in history to collapse the Iranian government. 

Both Sensex and Nifty were trading marginally higher as buying in large cap banks and Utility counters has offset losses in Energy, IT and Auto stocks. Meanwhile, HDFC bank was trading higher as the bank raised $1.75 billion through overseas bonds to fund its business growth. 

On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading mostly in green amid gains among technology and semiconductor stocks. European equity markets were trading higher after UK manufacturing order books registered a significant improvement in August as export orders recovered to normal for the first time in over four years.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77543.36, up by 5.64 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 77445.86 and 77725.67. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.76%, Power up by 0.72%, Industrials up by 0.48%, Bankex up by 0.37% and Realty up by 0.36%, while FMCG down by 0.74%, Auto down by 0.51%, IT down by 0.41%, Healthcare down by 0.38% and TECK down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 2.60%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.05%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.02%, HDFC Bank up by 0.60% and ICICI Bank up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Interglobe Aviation down by 1.67%, Trent down by 1.50%, Maruti Suzuki India down by 1.24%, Axis Bank down by 0.69% and ITC down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its latest data has showed that domestic air passenger traffic fell 4.80% to 120 lakh in July 2026 from 126.05 lakh recorded in the year-ago month, with most major airlines reporting lower passenger load factors. However, domestic airlines carried 984.03 lakh passengers during January-July 2026, up 0.64% from 977.79 lakh passengers in the corresponding period last year. 

IndiGo, India’s largest airline, carried 80.82 lakh passengers in July, down from 89.20 lakh in June. The Air India Group, comprising Air India and Air India Express, flew 28.75 lakh passengers during the reporting period compared to 32.22 lakh in June 2026. Akasa Air carried 6.65 lakh passengers in July, down from 8.61 lakh in June, while SpiceJet carried 1.87 lakh passengers, compared with 2.63 lakh in the previous month. Despite the fall in passenger numbers, IndiGo’s market share rose to 67.4% in July from 66.3% in June, while the Air India Group’s share edged up to 24% from 23.9%. Akasa Air’s market share fell to 5.5% from 6.4%, while SpiceJet’s declined to 1.6% from 1.9%.

In on-time performance, IndiGo had the highest percentage of its flights (91.2 per cent) departing and arriving on time, followed by Akasa Air (90.8 per cent) to and from 10 domestic airports -- Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Cochin, Guwahati and Lucknow -- during the previous month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24237.75, up by 5.90 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 24206.80 and 24284.05. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 3.02%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.97%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.26%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.10% and Nestle India up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Trent down by 1.65%, Interglobe Aviation down by 1.54%, Maruti Suzuki India down by 1.40%, Cipla down by 0.99% and JSW Steel down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Asian equity markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 290.55 points or 0.64% to 45,224.29, Hang Seng advanced 332.51 points or 1.28% to 26,031.00, KOSPI increased 60.37 points or 0.87% to 6,912.95, Straits Times rose 18.45 points or 0.33% to 5,690.36, Shanghai Composite strengthened 1.48 points or 0.04% to 3,905.20 and Jakarta Composite gained 34.19 points or 0.52% to 6,535.78, while Nikkei 225 slipped 391.79 points or 0.6% to 65,825.00.

European equity markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 23.26 points or 0.22% to 10,771.42, France’s CAC rose 19.61 points or 0.23% to 8,472.70 and Germany’s DAX gained 114.46 points or 0.44% to 26,097.50.
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