Key gauges end lower on Wednesday

Indian equity benchmarks failed to maintain the early gains and ended lower on Wednesday as investors kept a close watch on escalating developments in the Israel-Iran conflict and awaited the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the day. The broader indices also declined by nearly half a percent, continuing the profit-taking trend. 

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

Rupee falls against US Dollar: Indian rupee depreciated against the US dollar, dragged down by risk-off sentiments and elevated crude oil prices. The rupee dwindled amid weak domestic equity markets and the broad strength of the dollar.  

Construction of national highways likely to slow by 7-10% year-on-year in FY26: CareEdge Ratings in its latest report has said that construction of national highways (NH) is expected to slow by 7-10% year-on-year to 9,500-10,200 km in current financial year (FY26), due to delays in project awarding and execution challenges. 

Foreign fund inflows: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,482.77 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) also bought equities worth Rs 8,207.19 crore in the previous trade. 

India remains rare ‘bright spot’ in world facing growing uncertainty: Pointing to India’s steady economic performance despite ongoing global challenges, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran has said that India remains a rare ‘bright spot’ in a world facing growing uncertainty. 

Global front: European markets were trading lower as Middle East unrest deepened, and focus shifted to the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the day. Asian markets settled mostly higher despite heightened Middle East tensions and tariff uncertainties.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 138.64 points or 0.17% to 81,444.66 and the CNX Nifty was down by 41.35 points or 0.17% to 24,812.05.  

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 81,858.97 and 81,237.01 respectively. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.34%, while Small cap index was down by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.75%, Consumer Discretionary up by 0.38%, Auto up by 0.37% and Bankex up by 0.03%, while IT down by 0.76%, Utilities down by 0.75%, Power down by 0.67%, Basic Materials down by 0.66% and Metal down by 0.65% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 1.99%, Trent up by 1.94%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.24%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.12% and Asian Paints up by 0.74%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.79%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.55%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.35%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.16% and NTPC down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest report has said that India will lead global oil demand growth by a large margin, adding a steep 1 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2030 on the back of stellar economic expansion. It said India's demand for crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries, is expected to rise from 5.64 million bpd in 2024 to 6.66 million bpd in 2030.

According to the agency, the global oil demand is expected to grow by 2.5 million barrels a day by the end of the decade, reaching a plateau near 105.5 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2030. Besides, the report noted that barring any major disruption to the oil market, the world is expected to remain well supplied through the end of the decade, though rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East and unresolved trade tensions could cast a shadow over the outlook.

Besides, IEA said that India will remain the world's fastest-growing major economy in 2025 for a fourth year running and is projected to overtake Japan as the world's fourth-largest economy this year. On the global front, it stated that the United States, the world's top oil consumer, may see demand peaking at 20.47 million bpd in 2025 (20.42 million bpd in 2024) before starting to fall and may end at 20.01 million bpd in 2030, while Chinese oil demand is projected to peak in 2027 when it will touch 16.95 million bpd (16.63 million bpd in 2024) before starting to decline and reach 16.66 million bpd in 2030.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 24,947.55 and 24,750.45. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 4.69%, Titan Company up by 2.15%, Trent up by 1.80%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.23% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.02%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.72%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.57%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.44%, Nestle India down by 1.35% and JSW Steel down by 1.28% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 2.1 points or 0.02% to 8,831.93, France’s CAC fell 17.49 points or 0.23% to 7,666.24 and Germany’s DAX lost 84.72 points or 0.36% to 23,349.93.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. Slight retreat in oil rates and positive economic indicators from key Asian economies also boosted the investor sentiments. Japan's Nikkei closed near its highest finish in four months on optimism over further interest rate hikes by BoJ after softer economic data. Weaker local currency yen raised gains in export-oriented business.