Sensex Closes on Negative Note

India’s BSE Sensex weakened and closed about 0.5% down at 76,728.4 on Monday, snapping a two-day advance. Traders turned cautious after a weekend flare-up in US–Iran tensions lifted oil prices, before both sides agreed to halt attacks and resume negotiations. Also, concerns over a weak monsoon and the upcoming earnings season, weighed on sentiment. On a brighter note, persistent foreign institutional investor (FII) selling has eased, although buying remains modest. Selling pressure was particularly visible in automobile, banking and IT stocks. Kotak Mahindra Bank underperformed, dropping 3.2% after CEO and Managing Director Ashok Vaswani said he will not seek reappointment when his term ends on December 31, 2026. Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti also posted notable losses, falling over 2% each, on concerns that a weak monsoon could dampen demand for agricultural and related vehicles. By contrast, top gainers included Eternal, Trent, BEL and NTPC, up more than 1% each.

The SENSEX Index fell 362 points or 0.47 percent on Monday to close at 76739 points. Leading the losses are Kotak Mahindra Bank (-2.93%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-2.46%) and Tata Motors (-2.24%). Top gainers were Eternal Limited (1.19%), Power Grid (1.04%) and Bajaj Finance (0.77%).

India’s BSE Sensex opened largely unchanged at 77,111 on Monday, after posting gains from the previous session as easing geopolitical tensions after renewed US-Iran diplomatic talks supported investor sentiment. Market participants also welcomed the prospect of more stable crude oil prices while looking ahead to key US economic data later this week, including the June unemployment report, for further clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate outlook. Among corporate developments, Kotak Mahindra Bank remained in focus after CEO Ashok Vaswani said he would not seek reappointment beyond December 2026. Torrent Power drew attention after finalizing the acquisition of Nabha Power, while HCLTech completed the purchase of a 10.46% stake in AI startup Sarvam AI. Among the early gainers were Ramco (6%), Dr. Reddy (4.4%), Shriram (2.1%), and Aegis (2.5%). On the downside, early losers included Persistent (-8%), Netweb (-6.9%), HFCL (-4.7%), Waaree (-3.3%), and Kotak Bank (-1.9%).