Indian equity markets ended lower for the third consecutive session on Wednesday as ongoing geopolitical tensions kept investors cautious, while selling pressure in automobile and oil marketing company stocks weighed on overall market sentiment.
At the close of trade, the Sensex slipped 102.20 points, or 0.12 per cent, to settle at 84,961.14. The Nifty also ended in the red, declining 37.95 points, or 0.14 per cent, to close at 26,140.75.
Despite the recent weakness, global brokerage Morgan Stanley remains optimistic about the medium-term outlook for Indian equities.
Under its base-case scenario, the brokerage has pegged a Sensex target of 95,000 by December 2026, indicating an upside potential of around 13 per cent from current levels.
In a more optimistic bull-case scenario, Morgan Stanley sees the Sensex climbing to 107,000, which would translate into a gain of about 25 per cent.
On the Sensex, shares of Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors’ passenger vehicle arm, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and Tata Steel were among the biggest losers of the session.
Buying interest, however, was seen in Titan Company, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Sun Pharma, which helped limit the overall downside.
Broader markets outperformed the frontline indices. The Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.45 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.39 per cent.
Sector-wise, auto and oil and gas stocks remained under pressure, with the Nifty Auto and Nifty Oil and Gas indices registering the sharpest losses.
In contrast, the Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty IT indices led the gains, with the IT index rising as much as 1.87 per cent during the session.
–IANS
