Markets pare some losses in late trade

Benchmarks staged recovery and pared most of the losses in late afternoon session as India’s wholesale price inflation softened month-on-month for the first time in nine months to 9.78% in July on easing in fuel and food prices. However, markets continued to trade in the negative territory as persistent geopolitical tensions in West Asia have made investors nervous. Amid ongoing US-Iran tensions, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that US can to sustain its naval blockade against Iran indefinitely. 

Both Sensex and Nifty were trading with minor cuts amid weakness among Energy, Banking, FMCG and IT counters, while buying in Telecom and Services sectors helped to limit losses. Traders were cautious as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to pull out capital from Indian markets. FIIs were the net sellers on Thursday’s session, offloading securities worth Rs 510.69 crore.

On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading mostly in green as signs of slowing U.S. inflation raised optimism that the U.S. Federal Reserve would hold interest rates steady next month. European equity markets were trading mostly in red as German wholesale price inflation accelerated to 5.3% in July from 4.9% in June. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77943.34, down by 136.62 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 77684.37 and 78048.91. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.12%, TECK up by 0.61%, Capital Goods up by 0.22%, Consumer Durables up by 0.11% and Realty up by 0.04%, while PSU down by 0.69%, Energy down by 0.48%, Oil & Gas down by 0.46%, IT down by 0.45% and FMCG down by 0.39% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.21%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.94%, Eternal up by 0.69%, Titan Company up by 0.22% and ICICI Bank up by 0.16%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.79%, NTPC down by 1.74%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.25%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.08% and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India's wholesale price index (WPI) inflation showed a mild cooling in July 2026, with inflation easing to 9.78 per cent from 9.87 per cent in June 2026. The index for All Commodities also declined slightly to 110.0 in July 2026 from 110.2 in June 2026. The July WPI data showed divergent trends across major groups. Primary Articles inflation accelerated to 8.52 per cent in July 2026 from 7.0 per cent in June 2026, while Manufactured Products inflation rose to 8.29 per cent in July 2026 from 7.48 per cent in June 2026. 

Fuel and Power provided some relief, with inflation declining substantially to 20.05 per cent in July from 27.41 per cent in June. Correspondingly, the Primary Articles and Manufactured Products indices increased to 117.2 and 108.4, respectively in July, while the Fuel and Power index fell to 105.4 in July from 111.1 June. The WPI Food Index, consists of ‘Food Articles’ from Primary Articles major group, and ‘Manufacture of Food Products’ from Manufactured Products major group, recorded inflation of 6.65 per cent in July 2026 as compared to 6.14 per cent in June 2026.

All India Output Producer Price Index (PPI) for All Commodities for July 2026 stands at 109.9, same as it was in June 2026. Further, output PPIs for Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing; Mining and Quarrying; Manufactured Products; and Electricity are 115.6, 119.4, 108.8, and 92.4, respectively, in July 2026, whereas those were 114.1, 121.5, 109.2, and 92.0, respectively, in June 2026.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24371.60, down by 24.25 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 24296.80 and 24405.20. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospitals Enterprise up by 3.34%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.95%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.32%, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise up by 2.11% and Wipro up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles down by 4.99%, Jio Financial Services down by 2.00%, Asian Paints down by 1.91%, ONGC down by 1.73% and State Bank of India down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Asian equity markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 514.41 points or 0.75% to 68,823.00, KOSPI increased 164.60 points or 2.36% to 6,977.94, Shanghai Composite strengthened 0.22 points or 0.01% to 3,927.18, Straits Times rose 8.7 points or 0.15% to 5,728.75 and Jakarta Composite gained 67.61 points or 1.06% to 6,369.38, while Taiwan Weighted lost 210.47 points or 0.46% to 45,811.01 and Hang Seng declined 294.51 points or 1.17% to 25,102.00.

European equity markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 27.36 points or 0.25% to 10,745.31 and France’s CAC fell 7.66 points or 0.09% to 8,642.90, while Germany’s DAX gained 153.66 points or 0.58% to 26,453.40.