The SENSEX Index Closes 1.14% Lower

India's BSE Sensex extended early losses to close about 1.2% down at 81,287 on Friday, the lowest since early February, marking the second session of declines. Market sentiment remained subdued, driven by renewed foreign fund selling and market nervousness over stalled US–Iran nuclear negotiations. Selling was broad-based, driven by sustained profit booking in financials, autos, and select consumption stocks, even as IT counters lent modest support. On the macro front, the attention was on the release of domestic GDP figures and inflation data from the US. Private banking majors bore the brunt of the decline. ICICI Bank fell 1.9%, Kotak Mahindra Bank dropped 1.9% and HDFC Bank slipped 1.3%. State-run lender State Bank of India also shed 0.6%. Auto companies Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra fell 2.5% and 2.3% , respectively. Among IT names, Infosys and HCL Technologies gained 0.8% each, while TCS fell by 0.3%. The index posted a weekly losses of 1.8% and a monthly decline of 1.2%.

The SENSEX Index decreased -941 points or 1.14 percent on Friday to close at 81308 points. The decline was led by Maruti Suzuki (-2.65%), Bharti Airtel (-2.47%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (-2.43%).

India’s BSE Sensex fell about 0.4% to 81,899 on Friday, falling to its lowest since early February following a muted session, as selling pressure weighed across most sectors, with only technology posting modest gains. Investors remained cautious ahead of today’s release of Q4 GDP data, expected to ease from 8.2%, the strongest growth since Q1 2024. The index also followed flat trading in US stock futures, reflecting muted reactions to recent strong corporate earnings and cautious sentiment on broader market growth prospects. Further weighing on sentiment is the US January producer price inflation data due later today. Among the early laggards were Vishal Mega (-6.6%), L&T Finance (-3.4%), Bandhan Bank (-2.8%), and BSE (-1.3%). Early trading sees the index down 1.1% for the week and 0.5% for the month.