Crude Oil Slump Sparks Late Recovery, Sensex And Nifty End Lower For Fifth Straight Session

Mumbai: Indian benchmark indices recovered sharply from their intraday lows on Friday, 24 July, after a steep fall in crude oil prices improved market sentiment. However, both the Sensex and Nifty ended lower for the fifth consecutive session.

Closing Levels

The Sensex closed 332 points lower at 76,060, while the Nifty declined 102 points to settle at 23,767. The Nifty Bank bucked the broader trend, gaining 102 points to finish at 56,694.

The midcap index slipped 63 points to close at 61,622. Declining stocks outnumbered advancing shares, with the advance-decline ratio standing at 4:5.

Crude Relief

Brent crude fell 4 percent after Indian markets closed, dropping below $98 per barrel. Lower crude prices offered some relief because India imports most of its oil requirements.

Financial and IT shares recovered strongly from lower levels. HCLTech and Wipro were among the top Nifty gainers. KPIT Technologies and Tata Elxsi climbed between 4 percent and 6 percent.

Stock Action

Auto shares witnessed profit-booking, while non-banking financial companies remained under pressure. E Eternal and Swiggy declined amid reports of growing competition in the food-delivery business.

Shriram Finance closed 2 percent lower after mixed quarterly results. Motilal Oswal Financial Services fell 7 percent as investors reacted negatively to its earnings.

V-Mart Retail declined 5 percent, while CG Power slipped 1 percent after their Q1 results. GE Vernova, Hero MotoCorp, Hitachi and Amber Enterprises were among the major midcap losers.

United Spirits gained over 4 percent after forecasting healthy growth in FY27.

Weekly Decline

The market declined in all five trading sessions this week. The Nifty lost over 2 percent, recording its sharpest weekly fall in four months.

The Sensex and Nifty dropped around 2.5 percent each, while the Nifty Bank fell more than 3 percent. The midcap index declined over 1 percent, and realty was the worst-performing sector, sliding 4 percent.

HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Infosys, IndiGo, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Adani Enterprises were among the prominent weekly Nifty laggards.

Bandhan Bank, Motilal Oswal, OFSS and Swiggy led losses among midcaps. Manappuram Finance, TVS Motor, Astral and United Spirits were major midcap gainers.