Sensex, Nifty trade volatile amid mixed cues, Tata group stocks shine

From the Sensex30 pack, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, L&T, Mahindra and Mahindra and Eternal (Zomato) were among the top laggards.

Stock market today: Benchmark equity indices remained range-bound on Thursday, struggling to trade in the green territory amid limited fresh triggers

 

At 11:40 AM, BSE Sensex was trading largely flat, with a negative bias, quoting 82,568.62. Nifty followed suit and was trading at 25,174.50, down by 25 points.

 

Broader markets followed a similar trend as most midcap and smallcap stocks were trading range-bound. The Nifty Midcap 100 was up by just 0.05 per cent, quoting 59,650. Whereas, the Nifty Smallcap 100 was trading at 19,187, up by 0.25 per cent. 

 

Sectorally, Nifty IT was among the worst-performing indices, trading at 37,443, down by 0.58 per cent. Tech Mahindra's earnings for the first quarter of the financial year 2025- 2025 (Q1FY26) came in below expectations. 

 

Nifty PSU was also trading lower by 0.47 per cent, quoting 7,233. On the other hand, Nifty Realty was among the top-performing indices, gaining over 1.17 per cent and trading above 1,000 level.

Sectoral play

From the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, L&T, Mahindra and Mahindra and Eternal (Zomato) were among the top laggards. Whereas, Tata group firms, including Trent, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Titan were among the top gainers in the index.   Trent shares were trading at ₹5,441, up by 1.1 per cent. Whereas, Tata Steel was up by more than a person, logging an intraday high of ₹158.94.

 

Tech Mahindra shares were trading at ₹1,576.20, down by 1.97 per cent. However, mid-tier IT firm L&T Technology Services was trading in green despite delivering below-expected Q1 results. The shares of the company were up by 1.9 per cent, trading at ₹4,429 level. While the overall outlook remained subdued, a robust deal pipeline helped the L&T tech shares gain momentum.

 

Analysts expect subdued earnings in the IT sector to continue, putting pressure on the overall outlook. On the flip side, banking stocks might see some gains, as the sector has been in defensive mode and might attract stronger investor interest in the coming quarters.  "Results of the IT sector continue to disappoint and, therefore, this can remain a drag on the overall market," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments.

"Leading private sector banks are in a defensive mode now. The market is discounting NIM compression in the Q1 results. But this will reverse from Q3 onwards making them good buys now. From the valuation perspective PSU banks are attractive," he added.

Volatility to continue?

 

Earnings season, coupled with fresh developments on the trade tariff front, might provide some directional cues to the market as the overall macro picture becomes less blurry, eventually bringing down volatility levels. So far this month, the fear gauge of D-street, India Vix, has dropped over 10 per cent. However, analysts believe that any surprise moves on the macro developments can lead to turbulence in the markets.

 

"The broader trend remains optimistic as long as key support levels are respected. With positive domestic sentiment and technical confirmation, traders should look for bullish opportunities, especially in banking and large-cap spaces. However, global uncertainty around US central bank leadership may keep volatility alive," said Mandar Bhojane, senior technical and derivative analyst-research at Choice Equity Broking.