Sensex, Nifty Notably Lower As Middle East Tensions, Weak Rupee Hurt Sentiment

(RTTNews) - Indian stocks are down on Tuesday, weighed down largely by escalating tensions in the Middle East and hurt by the rupee's weakness against the greenback. Investors are also reacting to a slew of earnings announcements.

The rupee dropped to 95.46 against the U.S. dollar this morning and was trading at 95.39 a little while ago.

In geopolitical news, the United Arab Emirates announced that its air defences shot down 15 missiles and four drones fired from Iran. The development has added to tensions across the Gulf, especially around key maritime routes.

The BSE benchmark Sensex was down 584 points or 0.76% at 76,685.40 a little while ago, while the National Stock Exchange's Nifty50 was down 169.96 points or 0.7% at 23,949.34.

Automobile, bank, realty and oil stocks are drifting lower on selling pressure. IT, metal and pharma stocks are turning in a mixed performance.

Among Sensex stocks, only Kotak Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan and UltraTech Cement are up in positive territory. However, gains posted by these stocks are just marginal.

HDFC Life, up nearly 1%, tops the lift of gainers in the Nifty index. Hindalco and Nestle are up slightly.

ICICI Bank, Trent, Eternal, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Indigo, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone and Maruti Suzuki are down 1%-1.6%.

Jio Financial Services, ONGC, Coal India, Indigo, Max Health, Eicher Motors and Cipla are also notably lower.

Wockhardt is up nearly 10%, lifted by turnaround quarterly results. The company reported a net profit of Rs 164 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2026, as against a ne loss of Rs 45 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

Tata Technologies is up nearly 9% thanks to strong quarterly results. The company reported an 8% increase in consolidated net profit in the fourth quarter of its financial year 2025-26, compared to a year ago.

Ambuja Cements reported a 78.5% jump in consolidated net profit in the fourth quarter of 2025-26, compared with the year-ago quarter. However, the stock is down by about 2.5%.

BHEL's net profit more than doubled in the quarter ended March 2026 to Rs 1,290.47 crore, from the year-ago quarter. The stock is up with a modest gain of about 0.5%.

Quess Corp is gaining more than 8% after reporting a consolidated net profit of Rs 64.35 crore for the fourth quarter of 2025-26, as against a net loss of Rs 95.45 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Jindal Stainless's net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2026, jumped more than 41% compared to its earnings in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Despite the sharp increase in quarterly earnings, the stock is down nearly 2%.

The market breadth was negative. On BSE, 2,133 stocks drifted lower, while 1,690 stocks moved up and 219 stocks traded flat.