Indian stocks dip after seven-day gains; diplomatic retaliation to Pahalgam attack dampened sentiment

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 24 : Indian equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, ended in negative territory after seven sessions of gains, perhaps due to the diplomatic actions against Pakistan by the government following the dastardly terror attacks in Pahalgam.

At the end of the trading, Nifty 50 at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) stayed at 24,246.70, declining 82.25 or 0.34 per cent, while the BSE Sensex dipped about 315 points or 0.39 per cent at 79,801.43.

At NSE, HUL, Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors, ONGC, and Shriram Finance were the major losers, while UltraTech Cement, Grasim Industries, Tata Motors, and Tata Consumer were the gainers.

The geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan triggered the volatility, impacting sectors such as energy and infrastructure.

The Nifty, today, opened on a flat note at 24,277 and registered an intraday high of 24,347, while the day's low was marked at 24,232.

Throughout the session, the index traded largely sideways, with a mild negative bias, reflecting a lack of clear direction amid subdued market participation.

"Investor sentiment remained cautious, weighed down by rising geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack. The broader market tone was reflective of this unease," Sundar Kewat, Technical and Derivatives Analyst, Ashika Institutional Equity.

On the sectoral front, Pharma, Media, Metals, and Healthcare managed to close in the green, offering some resilience. In contrast, Realty, Consumer Goods, Consumption, and IT sectors ended in the red, dragging the market lower.

In the derivatives segment, 99 stocks recorded gains while 122 declined.

"Overall, the market ended on a cautious note, with participants preferring to stay on the sidelines amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty," Kewat said.

Observing the markets, Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said, "The domestic market witnessed mild profit booking after the recent rally. Similarly, global markets too experienced selling pressure as the market participants scaled back the possibility of a quick resolution of tariff disputes between the US and China."

He added that the FMCG majors' Q4 results were weak, which was impacted by subdued volumes and margin pressure, causing the sector to underperform.

"However, benign input prices and improvement in urban & rural demand are expected to revive the sector, which is available at reasonable valuations," he said.

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