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Informist, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026

 

By Adhithya Aji

 

MUMBAI – The benchmark indices ended lower Wednesday after starting the day on a positive note as crude oil prices fell for the third session. The broader market indices sharply outperformed their benchmark peers. Midcap indices touched new historical highs on the back of gains in pharmaceutical, fertiliser, defence, bank, and some automobile stocks. Information technology companies were the major laggards Wednesday. The Nifty 50 was also weighed down by large-cap stocks Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel, which closed over 1% and 2% lower, respectively.

 

The Nifty 50 ended at 24207.75 points, down 126.80 points or 0.5%. At the end of the continuous trading session at 1515 IST, the Nifty 50 was at 24276.90, down 0.2%. However, the 50-stock index fell 69 points more after the closing auction session. The BSE Sensex ended at 77472.94, down 0.2%.

 

The broader market indices showcased a strong performance with the Nifty Midcap indices hitting lifetime highs intraday. However, these later came off the highs to end flat to 0.1% lower. The Nifty Smallcap indices ended 0.6-0.8% higher. The mid- and small-cap indices have been outperforming the benchmarks and are fairly valued, according to a market expert who wished to remain anonymous. "I'm completely bullish on Midcap and Smallcap down the line for next, say, 12-18 months," this analyst said. "Midcap and Smallcap will outperform (the market)."

 

Shares of InterGlobe Aviation held on to their gains and closed nearly 1% higher. The sentiment around the stock was positive amid the fall in crude oil prices. Lower crude oil prices are likely to translate to lower jet fuel costs for the airline, protecting its margin.

Banking, financial services, and insurance players Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Life Insurance Co., SBI Life Insurance Co., and Bajaj Finserv ended 1-4% higher. ICICI Bank ended 0.5% higher and Axis Bank ended nearly 2% higher. Metal companies Tata Steel and JSW Steel ended around 1% higher each. Information technology players Infosys and Tech Mahindra ended nearly 2% lower. Their peers Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Tata Consultancy Services ended over 1% lower. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries ended over 1% lower as well.

 

The Nifty IT index fell the most among sectoral indices and was down over 1%. IT stocks fell after the US paused visa appointments as part of an immigration crackdown, which rekindled margin pressure concern, Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, said in a note.  

 

Banking and metal stocks were the major gainers. The metal space is attracting buying interest due to the weakness in the dollar index, Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart, said. "It seems the dollar is going to weaken further. So that's going to support metal space," Meena said. The Nifty Metal ended over 1% higher to be the top gainer among sectoral indices. The Nifty Private Bank, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Financial Services, and Nifty Bank also ended around 1% higher each.

 

In the Nifty 200 space, metal companies Hindustan Zinc, Steel Authority of India, and Vedanta closed 4-6% higher. Shares of Hindustan Zinc rose after global brokerage Jefferies raised the target price on the stock by around 14% to INR 750 and maintained its "buy" recommendation. On the other hand, Varun Beverages was the underperformer in both the Nifty 200 and Nifty 500 indices. The stock closed nearly 4% lower. Shares of the company fell despite announcing its entry into the alcoholic beverages business. Shares of Billionbrains Garage Ventures, Jubilant FoodWorks, and Premier Energies closed nearly 3% lower.

 

SBFC Finance closed 9% higher to be the top gainer in the Nifty 500. Shares of Jindal Saw, IDBI Bank, and Cyient ended around 7% higher. Shares of Cyient closed higher after the company's investor day. The management rolled out a strategy to transition from a project-led engineering research and development model to lifecycle engineering and annuity-based model to improve predictable and quality revenues. "We believe that the pivot towards managing lifecycle engineering can structurally improve the quality of Cyient's revenue; however, the key (factors to monitor) remain the success rate and execution within its marquee accounts," Prabhudas Lilladher said in a report.

 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 34 rose, 16 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 24 rose, 6 fell

* On the NSE, 1,967 stocks rose, 1,548 fell, and 130 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 2,375 stocks rose, 1,944 fell, and 221 were unchanged
* Nifty Metal: up 1.3%; Nifty Private Bank: down 1.04%; Nifty IT: down 1.5%

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BSE                                               NSE

Sensex: 77472.94, down 183.15 points or 0.2%      Nifty 50: 24207.75, down 126.80 points, or 0.5%

 

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

 

US$1 = INR 95.41

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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