Indian equity benchmarks made a gap-down opening on Thursday as the US benchmark Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2007 amid expectations of further Federal Reserve rate increases. Adding to the concerns, Brent crude oil prices rose above $100 a barrel, driven by renewed uncertainty over US-Iran diplomatic. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's comments at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that Tehran will never surrender to US, weighted on crude oil prices. Sensex and Nifty were trading deeply in red in early deals amid board-based selling across most of the sectoral indices led by banking and financial stocks.
On the sectoral front, shares of insurance companies were in focus as the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) proposed a wide-ranging overhaul of insurance distribution, including curbs on ‘dark patterns’, lower expense limits and changes to commission structures.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower tracking overnight losses on Wall Street as a sharp rise in US Treasury yields heightened concerns over inflation and interest rates. Besides, traders eyed a high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping set to focus on AI, trade and the Middle East war. Meanwhile, South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi was closed for a holiday.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74191.77, down by 636.48 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 74120.62 and 74362.29. There were 5 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.
The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.04%, while Bankex down by 1.66%, Telecom down by 1.03%, Power down by 0.84%, Utilities down by 0.82%, Industrials down by 0.72% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 0.64%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.47%, Tata Steel up by 0.24%, Sun Pharma up by 0.13% and HCL Technologies up by 0.10%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.95%, Axis Bank down by 3.58%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.03%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.86% and HDFC Bank down by 1.52% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, calling rupee’s depreciation over the past one-and-a-half years a temporary phenomenon, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta has said that there is a fair case for the rupee to not just stabilise but even appreciate from current levels. She said the rupee has cumulatively depreciated by 13.1 per cent on a point-to-point basis from March 31, 2025 to September 16, 2026.
The comments come against the backdrop of India's balance of payments turning negative in the last two financial years, with the country recording a negative BOP of about $5 billion in 2024-25 and $23.6 billion in 2025-26. However, the deputy governor said the current account deficit should shrink further in the coming years, helped by India's traditional strengths in services exports and remittances and emerging strengths such as merchandise exports.
She said “First, the CAD (current account deficit) should shrink further in coming years, with the traditional strengths persisting and the new ones emerging, including the growing success in merchandise exports”. She added India's dependence on imported oil is also set to decline through alternative sources of energy and efforts to find its own oil reserves, which would further bolster the trend reduction in demand for oil as a percentage of GDP. Meanwhile, the rest of the trade basket is responding well to the new trade opportunities that are being leveraged, a strength that will continue with the positive impact of recent FTAs materialising, and a conducive exchange rate.
She further said “Second, capital account too should turn more favourable, plausibly from later this financial year and then remain so”. She cited stretched valuations elsewhere, saturation of AI-led investment, strong domestic macroeconomic fundamentals, high real and nominal GDP growth, a domestic investment cycle, healthy bank and corporate balance sheets, measures to attract capital and a trend increase in FDI as factors that could support capital inflows. She also said that eventual inclusion of Indian bonds in more global indices could aid capital flows. She added “For now, we have leveraged our special capital flow measures implemented in June this year, resulting in a meaningful BOP surplus for the year. This reflects India's unique ability to attract large inflows at a very small country premium”.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23237.95, down by 208.85 points or 0.89% after trading in a range of 23205.45 and 23281.95. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life Insurance up by 1.41%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.62%, Sun Pharma up by 0.16%, HCL Technologies up by 0.07% and Titan Company up by 0.04%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 7.09%, Bajaj Finance down by 4.36%, Axis Bank down by 3.41%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.80% and Hindalco Industries down by 1.89% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 219.17 points or 0.46% to 47,938.12, Hang Seng declined 143.12 points or 0.58% to 24,691.00, Jakarta Composite plunged 57.06 points or 0.9% to 6,317.85, Shanghai Composite weakened 36.52 points or 0.93% to 3,900.00 and Straits Times was down by 10.09 points or 0.18% to 5,700.51. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 surged 645.05 points or 0.99% to 65,664.00.
