Oil drops to $98 — first time below $100 in weeks.
Oil drops to $98 — first time below $100 in weeks. Geopolitical premium fading fast. Iran talks progress, ceasefire holding. For Indian markets: lower crude = lower CAD, less inflation pressure. Nifty already up 4% from April lows. This adds fuel. Brent 🔻 $98.05 (-1.35%) #Cru
Market Snapshot — Close
Day Change
Overview
Profit-taking erased early gains after a 1.6% two-day surge, with Nifty slipping 0.14% to close below 24,200 as financials — the primary drivers of the preceding rally — turned into the session's biggest drag. The non-obvious read: DIIs net sold ₹3,428 crore (their largest single-session exit in recent weeks) even as FIIs turned marginal buyers, revealing that domestic institutions — not foreign funds — led the consolidation after the US-Iran ceasefire optimism faded.
What Moved
- Nifty 50: 24,196.75, down 0.14% — failed to sustain above the 24,200 weekly expiry level as HDFC Bank (down 1.96%) alone contributed nearly 40% of the index's losses [citation:5].
- Sensex: 77,988.68, down 0.16% — gyrated 1,055 points intraday before settling lower, with financial and telecom heavyweights dragging [citation:9].
- Bank Nifty: 56,086, down 0.38% — underperformed the benchmark for the third consecutive session as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank saw profit-booking after a sharp 1.2% rally on Wednesday [citation:1].
- India VIX: 18.10, down 3.05% — volatility continued its post-ceasefire cooling despite the day's intraday swings, signalling that options markets are pricing out tail risk from the Gulf conflict [citation:10].
Sector Watch
- Metals: outperformed as Hindalco surged 2.85% and Adani Enterprises jumped 3.06% after Jefferies flagged copper and renewable energy ramp-ups [citation:5].
- PSU Banks: resilient despite the financial selloff — SBI closed flat as FIIs selectively added state-owned lenders on valuation comfort after recent underperformance.
- Realty: worst-performing sector, down over 1%, lagging because weekly expiry positioning saw premium erosion in interest-rate-sensitive names after the two-day rally, with Godrej Properties falling 2.1%.
- FMCG: underperformed as Titan fell 1.33% and M&M dropped 1.12% on profit-booking ahead of monthly sales data due next week [citation:5].
- IT: quietly resilient — Infosys closed flat as overnight Nasdaq strength (up 1.59%) provided support, though rupee stability at 93.26 capped upside [citation:4][citation:10].
Global Context
The S&P 500 closed at 7,022 (up 0.80%) and Nasdaq hit a record 24,016 as US-Iran ceasefire hopes drove tech buying [citation:4]. The DXY held at 98.07 (down 0.03%), keeping emerging market FX stable, while Brent crude inched up to $94.93/