Indian equity markets extended their decline for the third consecutive session on Thursday, with the Sensex falling 115.54 points and the Nifty 50 slipping to 26,096.15 amid cautious global cues, elevated geopolitical tensions, and persistent foreign institutional investor outflows. The subdued opening reflects ongoing market uncertainties despite underlying economic resilience.

Market Performance Overview

Both major indices opened lower and remained under pressure throughout early trading, with mixed performance among individual stocks.

Market participants attributed the weak opening to cautious global cues, elevated geopolitical tensions, renewed tariff-related concerns, and continued foreign portfolio investor selling pressure.

Stock Performance Analysis

Among the Nifty50 constituents, select stocks showed resilience while others faced significant pressure.

Top Gainers:

Top Losers:

Technical Analysis and Support Levels

Technical analysts noted that the Nifty tested an intraday low near 26,050, which acted as a base support aligned with the 20-day exponential moving average around 26,086.

"A sustained breakout above 26,200 is required to revive bullish momentum and open the path toward 26,300–26,400," explained Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money.

Expert Views and Economic Outlook

Despite market headwinds, fundamental indicators remain encouraging for the Indian economy. Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, highlighted that advanced estimates project FY26 GDP growth at an impressive 7.40%.

"This strong fundamental is unlikely to reflect in the market very soon since the much-awaited US-India trade deal, which is critical for India's sustained growth and macro-economic stability, is not happening," Vijayakumar explained.

Global Markets and Sectoral Performance

Positive cues from Wall Street provided some support, with losses being capped by record highs in US markets. The Dow Jones closed above 49,000 for the first time and the S&P 500 notched its first record high of the year.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research at Kotak Securities, noted that the previous session witnessed lacklustre activity with non-directional trading, adding that "26,200/85,100 would act as an immediate breakout zone for the bulls."

Equity benchmarks opened on a cautious note with profit booking at higher levels offsetting support from firm global cues. The Sensex slipped 218.21 points or 0.26% to 85,221.41 after opening at 85,331.14, while the Nifty declined 30.40 points or 0.12% to 26,219.90 after opening at 26,189.70.

Market Performance and Technical Analysis

Despite the decline, analysts maintain a positive medium-term outlook for the markets. Prashanth Tapse from Mehta Equities noted that Nifty "slipped 0.30% to close at 26,250 amid profit booking, despite touching a fresh all-time high of 26,373, signalling a phase of bullish consolidation rather than trend reversal."

Shrikant Chouhan from Kotak Securities highlighted that "after an early morning intraday rally, profit-booking occurred at higher levels, leading to a sharp correction in the market." Key support zones remain at 26,150/85,200 and 26,100/85,000 levels.

Individual Stock Performance

Stock movements showed significant divergence across sectors, with realty and defence stocks emerging as top performers in the previous session while IT sector faced pressure.

Sectoral Trends and Market Factors

Geopolitical concerns and renewed US-India trade tension discussions weighed on market sentiment, though the broader structure remains strong above key moving averages. Defence stocks including HAL, BEL and BDL had gained over 2% in the previous session, while IT majors faced downgrade concerns.

Dr VK Vijayakumar from Geojit Investments noted that "the US markets have largely ignored the Venezuelan crisis and moved ahead" and suggested investors "can think of increasing the cash position in their portfolios, even while remaining invested" given heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

Banking Sector and Commodities Update

The banking sector showed resilience with increasing credit growth momentum, though deposit mobilisation remains challenging. In commodities, crude oil futures traded lower as the US administration planned meetings with oil companies to discuss boosting Venezuelan production.

Gold and silver prices climbed amid safe-haven demand following geopolitical tensions, with rupee weakness providing additional support to domestic precious metal prices.