Gains fade as bears take hold: Sensex slips 225 points by midday

Equity benchmarks reversed their early morning gains by midday on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 slipping into negative territory as selling pressure across power, energy, and consumer stocks outweighed strength in select auto and healthcare names.

The BSE Sensex, which had opened at 82,418.78 after closing at 82,276.07 on Wednesday, was trading at 82,050.81 at around 1.16 pm, down 225.26 points or 0.27 per cent. The NSE Nifty50 stood at 25,415.55, lower by 66.95 points or 0.26 per cent from its previous close of 25,482.50, after having opened the session at 25,556.30.

The broader market breadth on BSE turned negative, with 2,073 stocks declining against 1,897 advancing and 202 remaining unchanged out of 4,172 stocks traded. The number of stocks hitting 52-week lows at 199 outnumbered those touching 52-week highs at 92, reflecting the cautious undertone that analysts had flagged at the open. Stocks in the lower circuit numbered 147, against 139 in the upper circuit.

Among Nifty50 constituents, Tata Motors was the top gainer, up 2.06 per cent to ₹389.70, followed by Max Healthcare, which rose 1.70 per cent to ₹1,106.65. Bharat Electronics gained 1.23 per cent to ₹444.70, while Eicher Motors added 1.22 per cent to ₹8,105.50. Adani Ports edged up 0.86 per cent to ₹1,541.90.

On the losing side, Power Grid was the worst performer, falling 1.86 per cent to ₹301.55. Trent dropped 1.71 per cent to ₹3,855.10, NTPC declined 1.65 per cent to ₹378.55, and Coal India slipped 1.53 per cent to ₹431.90. Adani Enterprises fell 1.31 per cent to ₹2,202.50.

Sectoral indices were largely in the red. Nifty Financial Services dropped 0.42 per cent to 28,220.90, Nifty Small Cap 100 fell 0.40 per cent to 17,047.00, and Nifty Bank shed 0.18 per cent to 60,940.80. The Nifty Next 50 was down 0.25 per cent at 70,221.30. The Nifty Midcap 100 was a marginal outperformer, posting a gain of 0.12 per cent at 59,474.70.

The morning’s optimism, driven by Nvidia’s better-than-expected quarterly results and positive cues from Wall Street and Asian markets, appeared short-lived as domestic participants chose to book profits or remain on the sidelines. Analysts had cautioned at the open that despite combined institutional buying of over ₹6,600 crore by domestic and foreign institutional investors on Wednesday, the market lacked directional conviction. Resistance zones identified by Kotak Securities at 25,650 on the Nifty and 82,600 on the Sensex have so far held, keeping the index range-bound between 25,300 and 25,700 as flagged by HDFC Securities.

With roughly two and a half hours left in the session before the 3.30 pm close, traders will be watching whether the Nifty can hold above the critical 200-day simple moving average zone of 25,300 to 25,350 or slips further on sustained selling.

Published on February 26, 2026