Sensex Sinks 344 Points, Nifty Breaks 24,500; Bharti Airtel Slides 2.5% on Block Deal

Markets Open Lower; Sensex Down 344 Points, Nifty Below 24,500 as Bharti Airtel Slides on $1 Billion Block Deal.

Indian equity markets started Friday in the red, with the BSE Sensex falling 344.5 points to 80,280.75 and the NSE Nifty slipping 96.3 points to 24,499.2. The biggest pressure came from Bharti Airtel, down 2.5% to ₹1,877, after Indian Continent Investment Ltd, linked to billionaire Sunil Mittal, launched a $1+ billion block deal to offload part of its stake.

Market Snapshot
Top Losers: Bharti Airtel, Eternal, Infosys, Bharat Electronics, HDFC Bank (down up to 2.5%)

Top Gainers: Bajaj Finance, Titan, Trent, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC (up to 0.92%)

Sectoral Trends
Declines were seen in Nifty Consumer Durables (-0.85%), Pharma (-0.57%), IT (-0.53%), FMCG (-0.26%), and Financial Services (-0.25%). Gains came from Nifty Media (+0.79%), Oil & Gas (+0.64%), and PSU Bank (+0.04%).

Analyst Commentary
According to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the market remains “technically and fundamentally weak” with no clear signs of a strong FY26 earnings rebound. Persistent FII selling — ₹15,950 crore so far in August — is pressuring indices, though strong DII inflows are cushioning the fall.

Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit, noted that 88% of Nifty 500 stocks bounced at least 1% from intraday lows, hinting at a potential upside toward 24,670–24,717, and possibly 24,850–25,000, with support near 24,548.