The SENSEX Index Closes 0.54% Lower

India’s BSE Sensex closed about 0.5% down at 76,887 on Tuesday, reversing Monday's advance, amid continued foreign institutional investor (FII) selling, mixed earnings, elevated crude oil prices, and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. Banking stocks came under pressure after the RBI finalized its Expected Credit Loss (ECL) provisioning framework. The new guidelines, effective April 1, 2027, require banks to shift from an incurred-loss model to a forward-looking approach, where they set aside provisions based on expected stress in loan portfolios instead of waiting for defaults to happen. State-owned banks are likely to be more affected than private lenders, which already maintain more conservative provisioning and contingency buffers. Axis Bank dropped 2.7%, SBIN fell 1.9%, ICICI Bank was down 1.8% and HDFC Bank shed 1%. Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki dropped 2.5% after posting a quarterly profit drop. Oil & gas stocks advanced, tracking firm crude prices, while metal stocks saw mild gains.

The SENSEX Index dropped 417 points or 0.54 percent on Tuesday to close at 76887 points. Losses were led by Eternal Limited (-3.35%), Axis Bank (-2.58%) and Maruti Suzuki (-2.51%). Offsetting the fall, top gainers were Reliance Industries (2.06%), Nestle India (1.71%) and Bharti Airtel (1.64%).

India’s BSE Sensex opened about 0.1% lower at 77,219 on Tuesday, reversing gains from the previous session as elevated oil prices weighed on risk appetite. Brent crude climbed to around $109 per barrel amid indications that efforts to end the Iran war have stalled, with US President Donald Trump reportedly dissatisfied with Iran’s latest proposal to resolve the conflict. Meanwhile, foreign investors sold roughly $122 million worth of equities, extending their selling streak to a sixth consecutive session. On the macro front, India’s industrial production data for March is due later in the day and is widely expected to ease to 4% from 5.2% in February, reinforcing signs of moderating economic momentum and keeping investors cautious in the near term. Financial stocks led the decline, with notable laggards including Axis Bank (-0.5%), Jindal (-3.2%), Tanla (-3.4%), Vedanta (-1.1%), and Eternal (-1.4%), key performers included Cohance (+13.6%), Epack (+8.5%), and Coal India (+5%).