Markets remain under pressure in late morning deals

Indian equity indices remained under pressure in late morning deals as market participants continued to reduce their positions. Rising crude oil prices and weak cues from global markets dampened domestic sentiment. Crude oil prices surged as Middle East tensions continued to escalate after the U.S. carried out its latest round of attacks on Iran. Further, weakness also prevailed in markets as the RBI data showed that India’s current account deficit widened to $4.2 billion, or 0.5 per cent of GDP, in the first quarter of the current fiscal year from $3.4 billion, or 0.4 per cent of GDP a year ago. 

Sensex was trading lower by 0.85%, while the Nifty was falling around 1% amid selling in stocks such as HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Bharti Airtel. On the global front, Asian markets were mostly in red, following weak cues from U.S. markets overnight. Traders were cautious as U.S. Treasury yields rose after renewed tensions in the Middle East drove global government borrowing costs to their highest levels since early last year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76287.30, down by 656.98 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 76135.72 and 76532.93. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.35% and Energy up by 0.26%, while Auto down by 2.86%, Consumer Disc down by 1.85%, Realty down by 1.81%, Capital Goods down by 1.52% and Consumer Durables down by 1.45% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports up by 0.64%, Power Grid up by 0.43%, ITC up by 0.32%, NTPC up by 0.09% and Reliance Industries up by 0.05%. On the flip side, Interglobe Aviation down by 2.61%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.44%, Asian Paints down by 1.89%, Eternal down by 1.75% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.74% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting with key stakeholders from the data centre industry to discuss measures to improve the ease of doing business in the sector. He said ‘we did a round table discussion with stakeholders related to the data centre industry on ease of doing business to promote data centres in a big way because undoubtedly, India is the world's best location to set up data centres.’

The minister said emerging sectors such as data centres, semiconductor industries and artificial intelligence, along with India’s expanding manufacturing base, would support economic growth in the coming years and help the country move towards becoming a $30 trillion economy by 2047. He said ‘nothing less than $200 billion can be seen coming into the data centres industry.’

He said some of the participants, particularly the large hyperscalers, international investors and Indian companies looking to invest in data centers, indicated that huge potential is there in the country to attract investments in the segment. He said ‘we are proud of the people of India who, even in these very unnerving and difficult times, with two wars raging and global uncertainty and volatility, have given India 7.8 per cent growth in the quarter from April to June 2026.’  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23824.95, down by 230.85 points or 0.96% after trading in a range of 23786.80 and 23896.05. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 4.44%, Adani Ports up by 0.52%, Adani Enterprises up by 0.36%, Power Grid up by 0.34% and JIO Financial up by 0.24%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 4.44%, Bajaj Auto down by 3.34%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.03%, Shriram Finance down by 2.70% and Interglobe Aviation down by 2.51% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 1734.34 points or 2.62% to 64,481.00, Taiwan Weighted lost 727.09 points or 1.57% to 46,221.63, Jakarta Composite plunged 18.49 points or 0.28% to 6,581.45, Shanghai Composite weakened 26.29 points or 0.66% to 3,953.60, KOSPI dropped 237.33 points or 3.6% to 6,598.47 and Hang Seng declined 139.73 points or 0.55% to 25,190.00. However, Straits Times rose 9.44 points or 0.17% to 5,719.81.