Stock Market LIVE Updates: Nifty at 25,950, Sensex slips 300 points; Axis Bank, HCL Tech, Jio Financial drag markets

Indian equity indexes started off the day in negative territory on Tuesday, 16th December 2025. This was on account of mixed signals from global markets, the continuing trend of selling by foreign investors, and the downturn in the banking and metal industries. The BSE Sensex was down by more than 300 points, standing at approximately 84,900, while the Nifty 50 index was lower and around 25,950, very close to the significant 26,000 mark.

The index of the 30 largest companies and the BSE's most actively traded stocks, the Sensex, was down by 325 points or nearly 0.4 percent. In contrast, the Nifty index had fallen by around 100 points. The ratio of advancing to declining stocks was unfavorable, with more stocks losing value than gaining on both the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Top gainers and losers on Nifty

The three biggest contributors to the drop in benchmarks were Axis Bank, HCL Technologies, and Jio Financial Services. The other major losers include Tata Steel, Hindalco, Shriram Finance, and RBL. The Nifty Private Bank index dropped almost 1 percent, which was caused by the sharp fall in Axis Bank and mild decline of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

However, at the same time, defensive stocks gained slightly and they were the ones to thank for the lack of deeper loss. Tata Consumer Products, Bharti Airtel, Apollo Hospitals, Titan Company, and Asian Paints were the major gainers on the Nifty helping to limit the extent of loss.

Sectoral performance

All other sectoral indices except for FMCG and telecom were in decline. The BSE FMCG index rose by approximately 0.5 percent, backed by the buying interest in stocks like Godrej Consumer Products, Avanti Feeds, Nestle India, Marico, Britannia and Dabur India. Telecom stocks also illustrated strength, with Bharti Airtel taking the lead.

At the same time, banking, metals, IT, auto and real estate stocks were suffering. The Nifty Bank index fell by nearly 0.5 percent, thereby ending its three-day rally, while the metal industry was affected by poor global signals and demand concerns.

Midcap and smallcap stocks

The broader stock markets followed the benchmarks downwards. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices showed a loss of around 0.4 percent each, which is a sign of ongoing risk aversion by investors.

Stock-specific action

The shares of SEPC surged by almost 7% when the company was awarded a purchase order worth ₹270 crore for an infrastructure project related to railways. Arvind SmartSpaces stock price increased by more than 1% upon buying a residential project in Whitefield, Bangalore, which has a revenue potential of ₹550 million.

Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services traded flat after entering into an advertisement agreement with Bennett Coleman and Company. Senores Pharmaceuticals slipped marginally after announcing the acquisition of Apnar Pharma, while Meesho shares extended gains for the second straight session.

Global and currency cues

The Asian stock markets saw most of them going down, as investors continued to be careful before the release of important US economic data comprising of jobs and inflation figures. The Indian rupee further depreciated, starti...

ng at a new all-time low of approximately 90.81 against the US dollar, which also added to the pressure on the stock markets.

According to market analysts, the sentiment for the near term is very weak because of the incessant selling by FIIs, the rupee's poor performance, and the global uncertainty. Nevertheless, the strong domestic fundamentals and the regular purchasing by domestic institutional investors are anticipated to be the factors that hold the market from falling further.

In general, the market is going to be in a range with a negative bias so the new term is stock-specific and sector rotation will continue to prevail in trading.