Stock Market Today: Sensex Ends Marginally Lower, Nifty 50 Gives Up 26,000 Level Amid Weakening Rupee

The Benchmark indices extended their losing streak for the fourth straight session on December 3, dragged by continued weakness in the rupee that dampened investor sentiment. Both the Sensex and the Nifty remained under pressure through most of the day, hovering near their intra-day lows, before recovering marginally in late trade.

At close, the Sensex slipped 31.46 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 85,106.81, while the Nifty 50 fell 46.20 points, or 0.18 per cent, to settle at 25,986.

The broader markets registered a greater decline in comparison to the benchmarks. The Nifty Midcap 100 fell 0.98 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 100 declined 0.71 per cent, and Nifty 500 slipped 0.44 per cent.

PSU Bank Emerges Top Loser, IT Bucks Trend

The IT sector, which derives most of its revenue in dollars, gained the most during the session, with the Nifty IT climbing 0.76 per cent. Following it, Nifty Private Bank also gained 0.57 per cent, and Nifty Financial Services advanced 0.23 per cent.

On the other hand, Nifty PSU Bank fell 3.07 per cent after the government ruled out raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in public sector banks. Nifty Consumer Durables fell 1.57 per cent, Nifty Auto plunged 1.20 per cent, Nifty FMCG slipped 0.80 per cent, and Nifty Realty declined 0.75 per cent. Other sectors, such as metals, healthcare, oil & gas, and chemicals also ended the day in red.

Nifty Bank, which tracks the 12 most valuable and actively-traded banking stocks, closed 74.45 points, or 0.13 per cent lower at 59,348.25.

Nifty 50: Top Gainers & Losers

Wipro, Hindalco, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank were the top gainers during the session, each gaining more than 1 per cent. Infosys, Axis bank, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra HCL Technologies and Sun Pharma were also among the top gainers.

On the flip side, Max Health, Tata Consumer Products, Adani Enterprises, and Bharat Electronics emerged as the biggest losers during the session, each falling between 2 per cent and 3 per cent. Shriram Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), InterGlobe Aviation, State Bank of India (SBI), Titan, NTPC, and JSW Steel fell between 1.50 per cent and 2 per cent.

Why Is Rupee Falling

The rupee opened on a weak note today and extended its decline for a third consecutive session, breaching the psychologically important 90-mark against the dollar. The currency logged a fresh record low of 90.38 during the day.

According to Anindya Banerjee, head of currency & commodity research at Kotak Securities, the rupee’s fall was driven by three immediate triggers. “Growing uncertainty around the India–US trade deal supported the dollar and created caution across emerging market currencies,” he said.

Banerjee also attributed the decline to technical factors. He said, once the 90 level broke, a wave of stop-losses from leveraged traders and option sellers got triggered. On top of that, steady importer demand, particularly from sectors like oil, metals and electronics continued to absorb available dollar liquidity, he added.

Stock Market Outlook

Russian President Vladimir Putin will be in India for a two-day visit on December 4-5 for the 23rd India-Russia annual summit. The countries are likely to extend cooperation in the defence and civil nuclear sector. India and Russia aim to expand bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030 from $68.70 billion in fiscal year 2025. Market participants will be tracking any trade-related announcements.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) started its monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting earlier today, and is set to announce its decision on December 5. Market participants will be tracking RBI MPC meeting updates to gauge the sentiment.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release non-farm payrolls for October 2025, a key data that could influence the US Federal Reserve's policy outlook at its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting due next week.