Sensex Falls 490 Points Ending Rally
Indian benchmark indices ended the week lower, snapping a two-week winning streak as profit booking at higher levels and raised crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment despite continued buying by foreign and domestic institutional investors.
The BSE Sensex shed 489.92 points, or 0.62%, during the week to close at 78,009.25, while the Nifty 50 declined 204.65 points, or 0.83%, to settle at 24,366.
Nifty Metal, FMCG and Auto led sectoral losses, while Media outperformed, rising 2.2% during the week.
Ravi Singh, Chief Research Officer at Master Capital Services, said the benchmarks remained under pressure in the absence of major domestic or global triggers.
Ravi Singh noted that the Q1 FY27 earnings season ended on an encouraging note, with better-than-expected corporate performance supporting sentiment and attracting renewed foreign investor interest.
The broader market remained mixed, with the Nifty Midcap 100 gaining 0.24% during the week, supported by One 97 Communications (Paytm), Vodafone Idea, MCX, Info Edge India, Hitachi Energy India and LG Electronics India.
The Nifty Smallcap 100 declined 0.53%, dragged by PhysicsWallah, KEC International, Aegis Logistics, Triveni Turbine, HBL Engineering and NBCC (India).
Related: Oil and geopolitics steer markets this week
Foreign institutional investors continued buying for the third week, purchasing equities worth ₹1,228.24 crore, while domestic institutional investors remained strong supporters of the market, investing ₹9,285.63 crore during the week.
On the technical front, Nifty is hovering around its 21-day EMA, indicating near-term weakness, while the 55-day EMA around 24,150-24,180 remains a key support zone for the market.
As long as this level holds, the broader strategy remains buy on dips, with 24,550 as the immediate hurdle, followed by the 24,800 zone.
The Indian rupee also snapped its two-week gaining streak, ending 22 paise lower at ₹95.43 against the US dollar on August 14, compared with ₹95.21 on August 7.
The total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies declined by more than ₹1 lakh crore.
TCS emerged as the biggest drag on market value, followed by Reliance Industries, State Bank of India and ITC.
Bharti Airtel, Titan Company and Bharat Electronics were among the biggest wealth creators.
