Sensex slides 291 pts; realty shares decline for 3rd day

The domestic equity benchmarks traded with modest losses in the early-afternoon trade amid renewed US-Iran tensions that pushed crude oil prices higher and kept investors in a risk-off mood. Brent crude rose above the $90-per-barrel mark, raising concerns over inflation and its potential impact on interest-rate expectations.

Market participants remained cautious ahead of the MSCI index rebalancing, which is expected to trigger sizeable passive fund flows under the new Closing Auction Session (CAS) mechanism. The Nifty traded below the 24,100 level.

Investors will closely track movements in crude oil and gold prices, domestic and US bond yields, the rupee, and developments surrounding the US-Iran conflict. The trajectory of monsoon rainfall and its implications for rural demand and inflation will also remain on the radar.

Realty shares extended losses for the third consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 290.94 points or 0.38% to 76,973.57. The Nifty 50 index dropped 109.65 points or 0.47% to 24,063.30.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index plunged 0.45% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index tumbled 0.41%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,767 shares rose and 2,411 shares fell. A total of 303 shares were unchanged.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for the November 2026 settlement jumped $2.50 or 2.84% to $90.60 a barrel.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rallied 4.98% to 11.21. The Nifty 29 September 2026 futures were trading at 24,256.80, at a premium of 193.50 points as compared with the spot at 24,063.30.

The Nifty option chain for the 29 September 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 61.4 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price. A maximum put OI of 60.5 lakh contracts was seen at the 24,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index declined 1.31% to 896.95. The index dropped 2.27% in three consecutive trading sessions.

Lodha Developers (down 3.48%), Godrej Properties (down 2.52%), Sobha (down 2.43%), Anant Raj (down 1.89%), Aditya Birla Real Estate (down 1.41%), Prestige Estates Projects (down 1.4%), DLF (down 1.29%), Phoenix Mills (down 0.71%) and Oberoi Realty (down 0.51%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Karbonsteel Engineering surged 7.35% after the company received multiple purchase orders aggregating Rs 67.14 crore from India?s largest diversified conglomerate.

Avantel advanced 2.81% after the company announced that it had secured a contract worth Rs 117.88 crore from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

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