Stock Market News: Sensex, Nifty 50 Extend Decline For Third Straight Session Amid Broad-Based Selling

Benchmark equity indices extended their decline for the third consecutive session on January 21, amid a broad-based sell-off. Both the Sensex and the Nifty 50 saw wild swings during the session before ending lower. The volatility has come amid a mix of rising trade tensions between the United States and Europe, muted Q3 earnings, and a weakening rupee (INR).

The BSE Sensex touched an intraday high of 82,407.05 and a low of 81,124.45 before closing at 81,909.63, down 270.84 points, or 0.33 per cent. Similarly, the NSE Nifty 50 swayed from an intraday high of 25,300.95 to a low of 24,919.80, before settling at 25,157.50, down 75 points, or 0.30 per cent.

The broader market indices witnessed a similar trend and ended in the red. The Nifty Midcap 100 closed 1.14 per cent down, the Nifty Smallcap 100  ended 0.90 per cent lower, and the Nifty 500 slipped 0.49 per cent.

Banks Drag, Metals Support

Nifty Bank, which tracks the performance of 12 most valuable and actively traded banking stocks, closed over 1 per cent lower at 58,800.30. Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Private Bank also slipped 1 per cent and 0.85 per cent, respectively. Nifty Chemicals and Nifty Consumer Durables, however, emerged as the biggest sectoral losers in terms of magnitude of decline, falling 2.12 per cent and 1.66 per cent, respectively.

Nifty Realty, Nifty Pharma, Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT, and Nifty Auto, among the rest of the sectoral indices, also closed the session in red, barring Nifty Metal and Nifty Oil and Gas, which closed higher by 0.57 per cent and 0.27 per cent, respectively.

Nifty 50: Top Gainers  And Losers

Among the Nifty 50 index constituents, Eternal (formerly Zomato) shares climbed 4.90 per cent ahead of its Q3FY26 results, emerging as the top gainer. Indigo, Max Healthcare, JSW Steel, Hindalco, Grasim Industries, and UltraTech Cement also gained more than 1 per cent. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries also rose 0.97 per cent, providing support to the 50-share index.

On the other hand, ICICI Bank, Trent, Tata Consumer Products, Bharat Electronics, HDFC Life Insurance, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and Larsen and Toubro were the top losers, falling between 1 per cent and 2 per cent.

Stock Market Outlook: What To Watch Next

Key Economic Data: Market participants will be tracking key economic data from the US, including the gross domestic product (GDP) growth data for Q3, initial jobless claims, and crude oil inventories.

US-EU Trade Tensions: The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting is happening in Davos, Switzerland, where US President Donald Trump is likely to ramp up his push to acquire Greenland. Earlier on January 20, Trump told a news conference on Tuesday that he would have meetings about the Danish territory of Greenland in Davos and was optimistic that an agreement could eventually be reached.

Meanwhile, European Union (EU) chief Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe is ‘fully prepared’ to act over Trump's tariff threats. Market participants will be watchful of any statements made by the European leaders and Trump over the issue to gauge the intensity of the potential US-EU trade tensions.

Q3 Earnings: As many as 57 BSE-listed companies are set to report their Q3 earnings on January 23, including Indigo, DLF, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, Adani Total Gas, Adani Energy Solutions, Coforge, Mphasis, and Zee Entertainment, among others.