The key equity benchmarks traded with major losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below 26,000 level. Investors are closely tracking the ongoing Q3 earnings season and developments from the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, scheduled from 19 January 2025 to 23 January 2026.
Oil & Gas shares snapped their two-day rally.
At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 536.78 points or 0.65% to 83,035.10. The Nifty 50 index fell 170.45 points or 0.67% to 25,522.30.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.52% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.09%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,158 shares rose and 2,925 shares fell. A total of 221 shares were unchanged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 0.26% to 11.35. The Nifty 27 January 2026 futures were trading at 25,576, at a premium of 53.7 points as compared with the spot at 25,522.30.
The Nifty option chain for the 27 January 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 111.3 lakh contracts at the 26,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 47.5 lakh contracts was seen at 25,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Oil & Gas index declined 1.68% to 11,550.85. The index rose 0.82% in the previous two consecutive trading sessions.
Reliance Industries (down 3.33%), Aegis Logistics (down 2.5%), Oil India (down 2.06%), Petronet LNG (down 1.74%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (down 1.59%), Indraprastha Gas (down 1.29%), Gujarat Gas (down 1.27%), Gujarat State Petronet (down 1.26%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 1.07%) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 0.85%) declined.
Stocks in Spotlight:
HDFC Bank shed 0.62%. The company reported a11.46% jump in standalone net profit to Rs 18,563.75 crore on 2.91% increase in total income to Rs 90,005 crore in Q3 FY26 over Q3 FY25.
ICICI Bank slipped 2.95% after the bank reported 4.02% fall in standalone net profit to Rs 11,318 crore in Q3 FY26 from Rs 11,792 crore in Q3 FY25.