Dalal Street Ends In Red Before Christmas, Sensex Over 100 Points Down, Nifty Below 26,150

The Indian stock markets closed on a weak note on Wednesday. The BSE Sensex settled for the day a little over 85,400, crashing more than 100 points, while the NSE Nifty50 ended trading below 26,150, dipping close to 50 points.

On the 30-share Sensex, Trent, UltraTech Cement, Maruti, PowerGrid, and M&M stood among the gainers. Meanwhile, IndiGo, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, HUL, and Reliance closed among the laggards.

Dalal Street will be taking a short break from trading on Thursday, as markets celebrate Christmas. Notably, both benchmarks started the day amidst high volatility, slipping initially to pick up later as trading progressed. This rally was supported by firm global cues and sustained buying interest from domestic institutional investors, even as broader sentiment remained cautious. In early trade, the Sensex advanced 115.80 points to 85,640.64, while the  Nifty climbed 40.70 points to 26,217.85.

However, the indices pared their gains and ended the session in red. As the year draws to a close, market participants appear to be positioning for a phase of consolidation with a positive bias, supported by strong domestic macroeconomic indicators and expectations of healthy earnings growth in the third and fourth quarters of FY26, as well as FY27, analysts said.

“The sustained domestic inflows and consistent DII buying will impart resilience to the market. However, since FIIs may sell into rallies, a sharp breakout is unlikely,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited.

Vijayakumar also highlighted the Reserve Bank of India’s latest liquidity measures, noting that the central bank’s decision to conduct additional open market operations (OMOs) worth Rs 2 lakh crore is expected to significantly improve system liquidity and ease bond yields. This, in turn, is positive for credit growth and banking stocks, he added.

Global Markets Mixed As Year-End Caution Sets In

Asian markets closed on a mixed note, with South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei 225 ending lower, while China’s Shanghai SSE Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng settled in positive territory. European equities were trading marginally higher in mid-session deals, while US markets ended Tuesday’s session in the green.

Indian equities largely moved sideways during the holiday-shortened week, with subdued trading volumes as the calendar year approaches its end — a trend also reflected across broader Asian markets, where investors remained cautious amid thin liquidity.

Institutional Flows And Oil Prices

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to pare exposure, selling equities worth Rs 1,794.80 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs), however, remained supportive, buying shares worth Rs 3,812.37 crore.

In the commodities market, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.18 per cent to trade at $62.49 per barrel, offering limited cues for domestic equities.

In the previous session, snapping a two-day winning streak, the Sensex had slipped 42.64 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 85,524.84, while the Nifty ended marginally higher by 4.75 points or 0.02 per cent at 26,177.15.