Benchmarks continued to trade lower in late afternoon session as negative global market cues weighed on investors’ sentiments. All European and Asian equity markets were trading lower following the spike in global crude oil prices as conflict in West Asia intensified threatening crude production and shipping in the region. The crude oil prices surged past the crucial $100 per barrel mark. Back home, traders took a risk averse approach amid persistent foreign fund outflows. The foreign institutional investors were the net sellers on Friday’s trade offloading equities worth Rs 6,030.38 crore. Besides, weakened rupee has kept market participants on edge amid strong dollar and geopolitical uncertainties. The Indian rupee has weakened by 52 paise at 92.34 against the US dollar its previous close of 91.82 on Friday.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77185.24, down by 1733.66 points or 2.20% after trading in a range of 76424.55 and 77333.85. There were 2 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.
The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 4.25%, Bankex down by 3.75%, PSU down by 3.64%, Oil & Gas down by 3.60% and Consumer Discretionary down by 3.22%. Meanwhile, there were no gainers on BSE sectoral index.
The only gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma Industries up by 0.47% and Reliance Industries up by 0.46%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 5.19%, SBI down by 4.94%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.74%, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.65% and Interglobe Aviation down by 4.29% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Railways has said that the Indian railways’ freight loading stood at 137.72 million tonnes (MT) in February 2026, an increase of 3.96 per cent compared with 132.48 MT of goods carried in the corresponding month last year, highlighting the sustained demand for rail-based logistics across sectors. It said freight revenues during this period reached Rs 14,571.99 crore, up 2.97% from Rs 14,151.96 crore in the same month a year earlier.
According to the ministry, Indian Railways continues to play a crucial role in supporting the country's economic activity by ensuring efficient transportation of essential commodities such as coal, steel, fertilisers, cement, food grains and containers. Highlighting its strong performance in terms of transport output, it mentioned that the Net Tonne Kilometres (NTKM), a key indicator of freight movement, rose 4.18 per cent to 76,007 million NTKM in February 2026 from 72,955 million NTKM a year earlier.
It further said a significant portion of freight traffic continues to be driven by core sector commodities. During the month, Indian Railways transported large volumes of coal, iron ore, finished steel, fertilisers, cement and container traffic. It added that growth in commodities such as finished steel, iron ore and fertilisers contributed significantly to the overall freight performance.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23907.75, down by 542.70 points or 2.22% after trading in a range of 23697.80 and 23959.70. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 0.87%, Reliance Industries up by 0.51%, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise up by 0.51%, Sun Pharma Industries up by 0.46% and Max Healthcare Inst up by 0.17%. On the flip side, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles down by 5.79%, Ultratech Cement down by 5.19%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 5.03%, SBI down by 4.89% and Maruti Suzuki down by 4.77% were the top losers.
All Asian equity markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 2888.84 points or 5.48% to 52,732.00, Taiwan Weighted lost 1489.12 points or 4.64% to 32,110.42, Hang Seng declined 387.29 points or 1.53% to 25,370.00, KOSPI dropped 333.00 points or 6.34% to 5,251.87, Jakarta Composite plunged 264.66 points or 3.62% to 7,321.03, Straits Times fell 100.62 points or 2.12% to 4,747.63 and Shanghai Composite weakened 27.59 points or 0.67% to 4,096.60.
All European equity markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 183.54 points or 1.82% to 10,101.21, France’s CAC fell 212.49 points or 2.73% to 7,781.00 and Germany’s DAX lost 599.03 points or 2.61% to 22,992.00.
