Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended lower for second straight session on Thursday amid escalated geopolitical jitters and surged crude oil prices. Brent crude oil price moved above $100 per barrel after Iran seized two cargo ships seeking to exit the Gulf via the vital global oil route and warned that the U.S. and Israel will not achieve their goals 'through bullying’. Index made a gap-down start and remained under pressure throughout the session. Sentiments were downbeat with persistent foreign fund outflow. As per exchange data, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 2,078.36 crore on April 22, 2026. Meanwhile, traders overlooked the report that the HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI surged from 53.9 in March to 55.9 in April, while HSBC Flash India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose to 57.9 in April from March’s final reading of 57.5. Finally Nifty ended near 24,150 mark.
Most of the sectorial indices ended in red except Pharma, Media and Chemicals stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Oracle Financial Services Software and Piramal Pharma. On the other hand, the top losers were Union Bank of India, Havells India and Ashok Leyland. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 25900 - 26100 calls and 22900 - 23100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
