Stock Market News: Sensex, Nifty Slip For Third Consecutive Day Amid Cautious Investor Sentiment

Stock Market News: The benchmark indices ended a volatile trade on January 7, 2026 on a flat-to-negative note, as investor sentiment remained cautious ahead of the October-December quarter (Q3 FY26) earnings season. This was the third consecutive fall for both the Sensex and the Nifty 50.

The headline indices started in the negative territory, and sunk further during the day. However, towards the end, both the Sensex and the Nifty 50 recovered majority of their intra-day losses, but still closed in the red, marginally lower than their respective previous closing points.

At close, the Sensex was down 102.20 points, or 0.12 per cent at 84,961.14, while the Nifty 50 was lower by 37.95 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 26,140.75.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), seen as the bellwether of India’s IT sector, will kick off the Q3FY26 earnings season on January 12. Following TCS, several big names across the IT, banking, and consumer sectors will report their quarterly numbers. 

On the other hand, the broader market indices showed an opposite trend, as the Nifty Midcap 100 closed higher by 0.45 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 settled up by 0.39 per cent. Nifty 500, which represents more than 92 per cent of the free-float market cap of all NSE-listed stocks, closed flat, just 0.03 per cent in the green.

IT, Jewellery Stocks Cap Losses

Among sectors, IT and consumer durables were the major gainers, while auto, oil and gas, realty, and financial services ended the day in the red.

The Nifty IT gained 1.87 per cent to emerge as the top sectoral gainer of the day, led mainly by mid-cap IT segment stocks, such as Persistent Systems, Oracle Financial Services and Coforge.

The Nifty Consumer Durables was up by 1.69 per cent, led by gains in jewellery stocks, such as Titan and Kalyan Jewellers after these companies reported their quarterly business updates for the October-December quarter of the current fiscal year (Q3 FY26).

Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare also gained around 0.50 per cent, while Nifty Metal ended flat. Nifty Bank, which tracks the performance of 12 most valuable and actively traded banking stocks, closed 0.21 per cent down at 59,990.85.

Nifty 50: Top Gainers & Losers

Dragging the Nifty 50 index lower were Cipla, which fell 4.28 per cent, Maruti Suzuki India, which declined 2.81 per cent, and Power Grid, which slumped 1.60 per cent. Other top losers were Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle, Max Healthcare, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Grasim Industries, and State Bank of India.

On the other hand, Titan's 3.94 per cent gains, HCL Technologies’2.36 per cent increase, and Wipro’s 1.79 per cent rise provided some support to the index, capping further losses. Tech Mahindra, Jio Financial Services, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Apollo Hospitals, and Sun Pharma were the other top gainers in the 50-share index.

Stock Market Outlook: What To Watch Next

The United States is set to see some key economic data later today, which could set the tone for global markets, including India, when trading resumes on January 8. The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) will report its non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for December 2025, while payroll processor ADP will release its non-farm employment numbers.

Further, market participants will be keeping a track on any further escalation in the US-Venezuela tensions and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Meanwhile, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said after market hours that India’s economy is expected to grow 7.40 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 2026, outpacing the government’s earlier projection of 6.30–6.80 per cent. This economic data could also influence investor sentiment in the coming days.