Markets wilt under selling pressure; Sensex drops on weakness in IT stocks

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty buckled under selling pressure on Thursday due to weakness in IT and telecom stocks as investors turned cautious ahead of the start of earnings season, with tech major TCS scheduled to announce its Q1 numbers later in the day.

Tariff-related uncertainty also dampened investor sentiment in the market, traders said.

Sliding for the second straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 345.80 points or 0.41 per cent to settle at 83,190.28. During the day, it declined 401.11 points or 0.48 per cent to 83,134.97.

As many as 2,064 stocks declined, while 1,959 advanced and 138 remained unchanged on the BSE.

On similar lines, the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 120.85 points or 0.47 per cent to 25,355.25.

A positive momentum in global equities, however, restricted the loss in the domestic markets.

"Indian equities concluded the day in the red, weighed down by weakness in IT stocks ahead of TCS' Q1 results. Investor sentiment remains cautious ahead of the Q1 results in anticipation of a muted start to the season from the IT and finance sectors. However, the recent consolidation in the IT stocks largely factors in the muted outlook, limiting further worries," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

From the Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Infosys, Bharat Electronics, Tech Mahindra and Eternal were major laggards.

However, Maruti, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Trent and Tata Consultancy Services were among the gainers.

"Dalal Street ended in the red on Thursday, as investors remained cautious ahead of two key events -- US President Donald Trump’s upcoming tariff announcement and the start of India’s Q1FY26 earnings season, with TCS scheduled to report results post market hours," Gaurav Garg, Analyst, Lemonn Markets Desk, said.

The BSE midcap gauge dipped 0.28 per cent while the smallcap index inched higher by 0.12 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, teck dropped 1.17 per cent, telecommunication (1.11 per cent), BSE Focused IT (0.77 per cent), IT (0.71 per cent) and consumer durables (0.44 per cent).

Realty, metal, oil & gas and utilities were the gainers.

"On the sectoral front, profit booking in IT majors ahead of TCS results weighed on the index, followed closely by weakness in FMCG and pharma stocks. However, the realty and metal sectors bucked the trend and closed in the green. The broader indices also ended with modest losses, continuing their profit-taking phase," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

An Indian commerce ministry team will soon visit Washington for another round of talks on the proposed trade agreement with the US to iron out differences in sectors, like agriculture and automobiles, a government official said on Thursday.

This visit is significant as the US has further extended the imposition of additional import duties (in the case of India, it is 26 per cent) till August 1. India is seeking the removal of this additional tariff.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled higher, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended lower.

European markets were trading mostly higher.

The US markets ended in positive territory on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 77 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.27 per cent to USD 70 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 176.43 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 83,536.08. The Nifty declined 46.40 points or 0.18 per cent to end at 25,476.10.