Indian Stock Market Dips Amidst Cautious Sentiment: Key Indices Reflect Mixed Trends

The Indian stock market closed on a negative note on Monday, with the Sensex down by 322 points and Nifty by 78 points. Key sectors like IT and telecom saw declines while realty rose 2%. Despite early profit booking, experts maintain a positive market outlook supported by strong manufacturing and banking trends.

The Indian stock market concluded Monday on a somber note with both the Sensex and Nifty registering declines. At the closing bell, the Sensex fell 322.39 points or 0.38% to settle at 85,439.62, while Nifty slipped 78.25 points or 0.30% to finish at 26,250.30. Notably, mid and small-cap indices demonstrated resilience, with the BSE Midcap index inching up by 0.05% and the Smallcap index rising by 0.07%.

Sailing against the broader market tide, the realty sector emerged as a top performer, registering a 2% spike. Meanwhile, IT, oil & gas, and telecom sectors lagged behind, each shedding between 0.5% and 1%. Consumer durables saw modest gains of 1%, while the metal and FMCG indices edged up by 0.5%. The Indian Rupee also showed weakness, depreciating 9 paise to 90.27 against the US dollar.

Market analysts observed that profit booking at higher levels contributed to the declines seen in the benchmark indices. Shrikant Chouhan of Kotak Securities noted a sharp intraday correction but maintained a positive short-term outlook due to the formation of higher bottoms on daily charts. Concurrently, Vinod Nair of Geojit Investments highlighted the cautious start to 2026, amid elevated government bond yields and mixed global cues. However, he pointed to positive December GST collections and healthy banking trends as reasons for optimism.

(With inputs from agencies.)