Markets fall for third straight week, longest losing streak in five months

Indian equity markets ended lower for a third consecutive week, marking their longest losing streak in five months, as weakness in FMCG and PSU stocks weighed on the benchmarks. Midcaps, however, outperformed the broader market and posted gains during the week.

The Sensex, Nifty and Nifty Bank each declined around 0.5% over the week. FMCG and PSU indices were among the biggest sectoral laggards, while IT emerged as the top-performing sector.

At the stock level, 14 Nifty constituents fell 2% or more during the week, with

Shriram Finance and NTPC among the biggest losers. On the other hand, nine Nifty stocks gained at least 2%, led by Adani Enterprises and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The midcap space saw stronger performance, with SAIL, Ather Energy, Glenmark Pharma, LIC Housing Finance and Laurus Labs among the top gainers. Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, Tata Power, Federal Bank and RVNL were among the biggest midcap losers.

IT lifts Friday session

Markets ended Friday’s session higher as investors adjusted to developments following the CAS episode, with the Sensex rising 331 points to 77,265 and the Nifty gaining 85 points to 24,176.

The Nifty Bank slipped 14 points to 57,496, while the Nifty Midcap index gained 34 points to 64,070. Market breadth was mildly positive, with the advance-decline ratio at around 1:1.

IT stocks led the recovery, with the sectoral index gaining more than 3%. All five top Nifty gainers were IT stocks — TCS, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Wipro.

Among individual stocks, Ather Energy surged 8% after Hero MotoCorp’s fresh investment, while CONCOR gained 5%, recovering Thursday’s losses. HDFC Bank rose 1%, also recouping its previous session’s decline.

Bajaj Auto gained nearly 2% following a positive brokerage note, while Sagility rose over 4% on expectations of a corporate development.

In the midcap segment, BSE gained 2%, while Bharat Dynamics, Jubilant FoodWorks and L&T Finance were among the notable losers.

TVS Motor fell 3% after the company said KN Radhakrishnan’s term as CEO will end in January 2027.