The Indian stock market ended another session in the red, dragged down by a sharp sell-off in large-cap private banking stocks. Axis Bank led the decline after posting weaker-than-expected Q1 results, triggering a broader sell-off across the sector.
The pressure on banking heavyweights, coupled with continued weakness among PSU stocks, led the Nifty 50 to lose 0.56%, settling below 25,000 at 24,968 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex closed the session with a drop of 0.61% at 81,757. Both indices finished the week lower, losing up to 0.90%, which is a third losing week for the indices.
Investors had hoped for a turnaround in earnings by Indian Inc. in Q1FY26, but the initial set of results has been largely muted, leaving little hope for a strong performance in the ongoing earnings season, turning investors to take a selective approach.
In addition, the lack of fresh triggers and ongoing uncertainty around a potential India–US trade deal are also weighing on investor sentiment, which is also clearly reflected in the continued sell-off by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who have remained net sellers in most sessions so far in July.
Although optimism emerged earlier this week after domestic inflation fell to a six-year low, raising expectations of another rate cut by the RBI, the softness in credit demand has raised concerns about urban consumption.
