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Informist, Monday, Apr. 20, 2026

 

By Eshitva Prakash

 

MUMBAI – The benchmark equity indices closed flat as investors refused to take risky bets after developments in West Asia took a turn for the worse when Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz yet again, which sent oil prices soaring. On Friday, investors were expecting the US-Iran ceasefire to turn into lasting peace, but with both sides exchanging threats over the weekend, sentiment on Dalal Street soured, analysts said. Some analysts added that investors are still betting on both parties to reach a ceasefire agreement and avoid another full-scale war, which is why the market did not see a deeper sell-off. 

 

Iran's foreign ministry Monday said the US is not serious about pursuing diplomacy, citing what it described as "violations" of a two-week ceasefire agreement, AFP reported. "While claiming diplomacy and readiness for negotiations, the US is carrying out behaviours that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process," the report quoted ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei as saying. 
 

Back home, traders bought shares of public sector banks ahead of their March quarter results. Energy stocks, particularly those engaged in renewable energy production, rallied as Brent Crude oil prices rose yet again. At 1530 IST, the June futures contract of Brent Crude traded over 4.6% higher at $94.56 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange. Realty stocks, which are among the most exposed to disruptions caused by the war in West Asia, were hit hard. A fall in information technology stocks also kept the market under pressure. 

 

The Nifty 50 settled at 24364.85 points, up just 11.30 points. The BSE Sensex ended flat at 78520.30 points. Shares of Trent closed 3.3% higher after the company said it will consider issuing bonus shares, raising funds through a rights issue, and paying a dividend on Wednesday. It will be the company's first bonus share issue. JSW Steel and State Bank of India ended 2.8% and 2.6% higher, respectively. Meanwhile, Hindalco Industries and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles fell 2.3% and 1.2%, respectively. Shares of Jio Financial Services ended nearly 2.8% lower and were the worst-hit in the 50-stock index after the company's consolidated net profit for the March quarter fell nearly 14% on-year to INR 2.72 billion, weighed down by a steep rise in finance costs. 

 

The two index heavyweights, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, which released their March quarter results Saturday, received mixed reactions from investors. While ICICI Bank's shares ended 0.7% higher, HDFC Bank's stock shed 0.6%. ICICI Bank reported an 8.5% on-year increase in net profit to INR 137.02 billion, handily surpassing analysts' estimates, in the March quarter. Brokerage Nomura raised its target price for the bank by 5.5% to INR 1,620. HDFC Bank's net profit grew 9.1% on-year to INR 192.21 billion, as provisions fell 18% on-year to INR 26.10 billion. However, the bank's net interest income for the quarter, at INR 330.82 billion, was below the Street's estimates. Brokerage Nuvama cut its target price for the lender by 10% to INR 1,050. It has cut the lender's earnings-per-share estimate for 2026-27 (Apr-Mar) by 3%. "On a normal day, shares of ICICI Bank would have rallied 3% on these results, but the US-Iran war has clearly affected sentiment," an analyst at a domestic broking firm said.

YES Bank, which reported its March quarter figures on Saturday, closed 1.7% lower after trading in the green for most of the session. The bank's net profit surpassed the consensus view and rose nearly 45% on year to INR 10.68 billion. Nomura said that while the company's fundamentals are improving, the build-up in core return on assets is likely to remain gradual.

 

Shares of Bharat Heavy Electricals ended 2.8% higher after the company on Saturday said its turnover for 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) rose 18% year to around INR 323.50 billion. The engineering and manufacturing company's total order inflows in FY26 rose to INR 750.00 billion, taking its outstanding order book to INR 2.4 trillion as on Mar. 31.

 

Shares of Indian Energy Exchange fell 8?ter the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission released draft norms for the power market, which include a framework for market coupling. Under market coupling, there will be a uniform price for electricity across exchanges, which threatens IEX's market share and its near-total control over day-ahead and real-time trading.

 

Shares of select liquor companies, such as United Breweries and Radico Khaitan, ended nearly 2% and 5% higher, respectively, after the Karnataka government issued a draft notification to amend the alcohol taxation policy to tax based on actual alcohol content. The state plans to introduce an alcohol-in-beverage-based excise duty structure that taxes alcohol based on its strength and reduce pricing slabs, according to various media reports. The new tax regime will increase the retail price of alcohol sold in the first four excise slabs and bring down the cost of premium alcohol in the top slabs, The New Indian Express reported.

 

Shares of Mastek ended 3.6% lower after the company's consolidated net profit for the March quarter fell 2% sequentially to INR 1.06 billion. The artificial intelligence and cloud service provider reduced its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation margin guidance for 2026-27 (Apr-Mar) to 16.5% from 17% due to increased competition, Umang Nahata, chief executive officer of Mastek Group, said in an interview with CNBC-TV18. The CEO said Mastek faced a 1.0-1.5?ITDA margin hit due to wage hikes in the March quarter.

 

Shares of Network18 Media & Investments ended 1.3% lower after its consolidated net loss widened to INR 305.2 million from INR 303.1 million a year ago. Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises ended over 8% higher. The company said on Friday it will invest up to INR 1.16 billion in the compulsorily convertible debentures of Phantom Digital Effects through a preferential allotment. 

 

Shares of Popular Vehicles and Services ended 3.4% higher after the company said its consolidated revenue from operations rose 69% on year in the March quarter and 15% in 2025-26 (Apr-Mar). For the quarter ended December, the company had reported a consolidated net loss of INR 6.72 million. 

 

Shares of EMS ended 7.4% higher after the company said it had been declared the lowest bidder for two projects from UP Jal Nigam (Urban), Varanasi. The combined estimated order value stands at about INR 2.09 billion, excluding goods and services tax.

 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 23 rose and 27 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 12 rose and 18 fell

* On the NSE, 2,347 stocks rose, 905 fell, and 91 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 1,836 stocks rose, 2,551 fell, and 199 were unchanged
* Nifty Media: up 0.9%; Nifty PSU Bank: up 0.9%; Nifty IT: down 0.7

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BSE                                               NSE

Sensex: 78520.30, up 26.76 points or 0.03%        Nifty 50: 24364.85, up 11.30 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 Saji George Titus

 

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