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Informist, Thursday, Apr. 16, 2026

 

By Eshitva Prakash

MUMBAI - Benchmark indices closed slightly lower Thursday as investors booked profits following a rally over the last two weeks. While crude oil prices have remained stagnant for a couple of sessions, they are still high for emerging markets, which has deterred investors from holding long positions despite cheaper valuations, analysts said. There are concerns that if crude prices were to sustain these elevated levels, it will lead to higher inflation in the near term and widen India's current account deficit.

 

Most metal companies performed well and the Nifty Metal index rose to record highs. Defence sector companies also gained, but these two sectors were unable to counter the weakness in stocks of banks, financial services and automobile companies. Stocks of information technology companies, particularly those of midcap companies, ended higher ahead of Wipro's earnings later in the day. Technical analysts noted that the Nifty Bank index was unable to cross a key technical hurdle. The expiry of Sensex weekly derivatives contracts Thursday also dragged the indices lower, they said.

 

The Nifty 50 index ended at 24196.75 points, down 34.55 points or 0.1%. The BSE Sensex declined 0.2% or 122.56 points to end at 77988.68 points. Headline indices closed almost 1?low their intraday highs, largely tracking a fall in shares of private sector banks and automobile companies. Hindalco Industries, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, and Trent ended almost 3% higher each. Meanwhile, HDFC Life Insurance Co., Titan Co., and Oil And Natural Gas Corp. were among the worst hit constituents of the 50-stock index and declined 1–2%. A near 2% drop in shares of index heavyweight HDFC Bank was the biggest drag on the Nifty 50.  

 

Crude oil prices have declined significantly from their peak last month on hopes that the ceasefire between the US and Iran will turn into durable peace in West Asia. Equity indices rose globally in early trade, taking cues from the US markets where some benchmark indices rose to record highs overnight, as investors bet on a fresh round of diplomatic talks between the two warring sides. A delegation led by Pakistan's army chief recently held discussions with Iranian officials regarding the possibility of restarting negotiations between Tehran and Washington, media reports said. At 1603 IST, the June futures contract of crude oil traded 1.4% higher at $96.26 per barrel. 

 

Lloyds Metals And Energy, Hindalco Industries, and Hindustan Copper rose the most among metal companies and ended 3% higher each. Analysts said the supply bottlenecks caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has created a supply-demand mismatch, which may lead to higher metal costs, benefiting producers.   

 

Shares of defence companies such as Aequs, Axiscades Technologies, and Mishra Dhatu Nigam ended higher amid reports that the Defence Research and Development Organisation is working on a development-cum-production partner model, where it is handing over the entire missile production to private companies. Shares of GMR Airports ended 2.5% lower after the company's March passenger traffic fell 1.5% to 10.41 million.

 

Shares of HDFC Asset Management Co. ended slightly lower paring earlier gains after the company's net profit for the March quarter declined nearly 2% on year to INR 6.23 billion. Shares of Tejas Networks ended nearly 4% lower after the company's weak March quarter results. Its consolidated net loss widened by over 7% sequentially to INR 2.11 billion from INR 1.97 billion. 

 

Shares of HDB Financial Services closed 6% higher after the company's net interest income and profit beat Street estimates. For the March quarter, the company reported a 41% on-year jump in its net profit to INR 7.51 billion against analysts' estimates of INR 7.23 billion.

 

Among Nifty 200 companies, Bharat Heavy Electricals was the top gainer and added almost 4% in the final hour of trading amid a spike in volumes. Shares of Adani Power and PB Fintech ended around 5% higher each. Meanwhile, Supreme Industries, Astral, and Billionbrains Garage Ventures were the worst hit and ended 3-4% lower. Gujarat Mineral Development Corp. was the best performing stock in the Nifty 500 index and ended 20% higher.

 

Broader market indices performed decisively better than their benchmark peers, with the smallcap indices ending 0.6-0.9% higher and the midcap indices rising 0.6%. The Nifty Largemidcap 250 index closed 0.4% higher. Aptus Value Housing Finance India ended over 7% higher and it was the best performing smallcap stock. 

 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 25 rose and 25 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 14 rose and 16 fell

* On the NSE, 2,147 stocks rose, 1,089 fell, and 89 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 2,808 stocks rose, 1,539 fell, and 157 were unchanged

* Nifty Private Bank: down 0.6%; Nifty Bank: down 0.4%; Nifty Metal: up 1.6%

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BSE                                               NSE

Sensex: 77988.8, down 122.56 points or 0.2%       Nifty 50: 24196.75 , up 34.55 points or 0.1%

 

S&P BSE Sensitive Index	Nifty 50
Lifetime High: 86159.02 (Dec. 1, 2025)	: Lifetime High: 26373.20 (Jan. 5, 2026)
Record Close High: 85836.12 (Sept. 26, 2024)	: Record Close High: 26328.55 (Jan. 2, 2026)
2026 1st day close: 85188.60 (Jan. 1)	: 2026 1st day close: 26146.55 (Jan. 1)
2026 Closing High: 85762.01 (Jan. 2)	: 2026 Closing High: 26328.55 (Jan. 2)
2026 Closing Low: 71947.55 (Mar. 30)	: 2026 Closing Low: 22331.40 (Mar. 30)
2026 High (intraday): 85883.50 (Jan. 5)	: 2026 High (intraday): 26373.20 (Jan. 5)
2026 Low (intraday): 71545.81 (Apr. 1)	: 2026 Low (intraday): 22182.55 (Apr.2)
2025 1st day close: 78507.41 (Jan. 1)	: 2025 1st day close: 23742.90 (Jan. 1)
2025 Closing High: 85720.38 (Nov. 27)	: 2025 Closing High: 26215.55 (Nov. 27)
2025 Closing Low: 72989.93 (Mar. 4)	: 2025 Closing Low: 22082.65 (Mar. 4)
2025 High (intraday): 86159.02 (Dec. 1)	: 2025 High (intraday): 26325.80 (Dec.1)
2025 Low (intraday): 71425.01 (Apr. 7)	: 2025 Low (intraday): 21743.65 (Apr. 7)
2024 1st day close: 72271.94 (Jan. 1)	: 2024 1st day close: 21741.90 (Jan. 1)
2024 Closing High: 85836.12 (Sept. 26)	: 2024 Closing High: 26216.05 (Sept. 26)
2024 Closing Low: 70370.55 (Jan. 23)	: 2024 Closing Low: 21238.80 (Jan. 23)
2024 High (intraday): 85978.25 (Sep. 27)	: 2024 High (intraday): 26277.35 (Sept. 27)
2024 Low (intraday): 70001.60 (Jan. 24)	: 2024 Low (intraday): 21137.20 (Jan. 24)
2023 1st day close: 61167.79 (Jan. 2)	: 2023 1st day close: 18197.45 (Jan. 2)
2023 Closing High: 72410.38 (Dec. 28)	: 2023 Closing High: 21778.70 (Dec. 28)
2023 Closing Low: 59288.35 (Feb. 27)	: 2023 Closing Low: 17311.80 (Oct. 17)
2023 High (intraday): 72484.34 (Dec. 28)	: 2023 High (intraday): 21801.45 (Dec. 28)
2023 Low (intraday): 58699.20 (Jan. 30)	: 2023 Low (intraday): 17098.55 (Jan. 17)
2022 1st day close: 59183.22 (Jan. 3)	: 2022 1st day close: 17625.70 (Jan. 3)
2022 Closing High: 63284.19 (Dec. 1)	: 2022 Closing High: 18812.50 (Dec. 1)
2022 Closing Low: 51360.42 (Jun. 17)	: 2022 Closing Low: 15293.50 (Jun. 17)
2022 High (intraday): 63583.07 (Dec. 1)	: 2022 High (intraday): 18887.60 (Dec. 1)
2022 Low (intraday): 50921.22 (Jun. 17)	: 2022 Low (intraday): 15183.40 (Jun. 17)
2021 Closing High: 61305.95 (Oct. 14)	: 2021 Closing High: 18338.55 (Oct. 14)
2021 Closing Low: 46285.77 (Jan. 29)	: 2021 Closing Low: 13634.60 (Jan. 29)
2021 High (intraday): 61353.25 (Oct. 14)	: 2021 High (intraday): 18350.75 (Oct. 14)
2021 Low (intraday): 46160.46 (Jan. 29)	: 2021 Low (intraday): 13596.75 (Jan. 29)
2020 Closing High: 47751.33 (Dec. 31)	: 2020 Closing High: 13981.95 (Dec. 30)
2020 Closing Low: 25981.24 (Mar. 23)	: 2020 Closing Low: 7610.25 (Mar. 23)
2020 High (intraday): 47896.97 (Dec. 31)	: 2020 High (intraday): 14024.85 (Dec. 31)
2020 Low (intraday): 25638.90 (Mar. 24)	: 2020 Low (intraday): 7511.10 (Mar. 24)
2019 High (intraday): 41809.96 (Dec. 20)	: 2019 High (intraday): 12293.90 (Dec. 20)
2019 Low (intraday): 35287.16 (Feb. 19)	: 2019 Low (intraday): 10583.65 (Jan. 29)
2018 High (intraday): 38938.91(Aug. 28))	: 2018 High(intraday): 11760.20 (Aug. 28)
2018 Low (intraday): 32483.8 (Mar. 23)	: 2018 Low (intraday): 9951.9 (Mar. 23)
2017 High (intraday): 34005.37 (Dec. 26)	: 2017 High(intraday): 10515.10 (Dec. 26)

 

End

 

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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