Indian benchmark indices ended lower on Wednesday but recovered sharply from their intraday lows, with financial stocks leading the late-session rebound. The Nifty held above the 24,400 mark and closed below 24,450, while the Nifty Bank finished at the day's high.

The BSE Sensex slipped 188 points to 77,967, and the NSE Nifty declined 36 points to 24,436. The Nifty Bank gained 440 points to 57,886. The Midcap index fell 180 points to 64,024, though it continued to outperform the headline benchmarks on a relative basis.

Institutional flows

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers, recording an outflow of ₹1,003 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth ₹5,842 crore. Published daily by the exchanges, FII and DII numbers are among the most closely tracked gauges of institutional demand in Indian equities. Wednesday's session was a case of domestic money more than offsetting foreign selling: DIIs — a category that includes mutual funds, insurers and pension funds — absorbed roughly six times the FII outflow, leaving combined institutional flows positive by about ₹4,839 crore.

Market breadth

Market breadth remained tilted toward declines, with the advance-decline ratio at 3:4 — three stocks rising for every four that fell — even as the headline indices pared their losses late in the session.

Tata group stocks under pressure

Tata group stocks came under pressure after N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, indicated that he would not seek reappointment after the end of his term. Chandrasekaran has led the salt-to-software conglomerate since 2017. TCS, the group's IT flagship and one of India's most valuable listed companies, Tata Steel, Tata Motors PV and Tata Consumer Products were among the top Nifty losers, underlining how many index heavywares the group accounts for.

Hospital stocks decline

Hospital stocks declined after reports related to a possible cap on charges. Max Healthcare and Fortis Healthcare fell 3–5%. Hospital pricing has long been an area of policy attention in India, where the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has previously capped the prices of medical devices such as cardiac stents and knee implants.

Metals and PSU banks among gainers

Metals stocks were among the notable gainers. Hindalco Industries and National Aluminium Company (Nalco) rose 3–8% after Norway's Norsk Hydro announced a cut in alumina output. Alumina, refined from bauxite, is the raw material for aluminium smelting, so supply decisions by large global producers are watched closely by Indian companies that produce and sell it.

PSU banks continued to attract buying interest, with Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India rising as much as 4%.

Telecom stocks advance

Telecom stocks moved higher following reports of a possible selective tariff hike by Bharti Airtel. Vodafone Idea gained around 3%. The reports follow the sector-wide tariff increases of July 2024, when Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea all raised prices in the last major round of hikes among India's private carriers.

Source: CNBC-TV18