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EQUITY
Post Session: Quick Review
Aug-20-2026

Indian equity markets snapped their losing streak on Thursday, buoyed by positive global cues and easing global bond yields following an announcement by the U.S. Treasury Department that it would buy back more longer-term debt, covering maturities of between 10 and 30 years in a bid to keep borrowing costs in check. However, gains were limited by high crude oil prices and continued tensions in West Asia.

The Sensex and Nifty ended significantly higher, driven by broad-based buying across sectors, as traders picked up fundamentally strong and beaten-down stocks at lower levels following the declines in previous sessions. Additionally, sentiments remained upbeat amid continued buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

Some of the important factors in trade:

FIIs extends buying streak: Sentiments remained upbeat as Foreign Institutional Investors extended their buying streak for the second consecutive day, buying equities worth Rs 407.99 crore on August 19, 2026.

Indian envoy kwatra meets US officials to strengthen bilateral ties: Traders took encouragement with report that India’s Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra met US Assistant Secretary of State S Paul Kapur and discussed developments across various pillars of the bilateral partnership. 

MPC adopts wait-and-watch approach amid risk of food, fuel inflation: Traders took note of the minutes of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting showing that rate-setting panel was broadly agreed that rising food and fuel prices posed inflation risks, but there was limited evidence of broad-based price pressures, warranting a wait-and-watch approach, while voting for the status quo on interest rates. 

On the global front: European markets were trading in red amid persistent inflation concerns and heightened geopolitical uncertainty. Asian markets ended mostly higher, tracking positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as global bond yields eased from multi-year highs.

The BSE Sensex ended at 77537.72, up by 628.04 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 77371.00 and 77611.11. There were 25 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.87%, FMCG up by 1.03%, IT up by 0.94%, TECK up by 0.86%, and Consumer Discretionary up by 0.75%, while there was no losing sectoral index on the BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 2.31%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.65%, ITC up by 1.63%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.53% and Axis Bank up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.41%, Interglobe Aviation down by 0.24%, HCL Technologies down by 0.19% and Titan Company down by 0.04% were the few losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with an aim of deepening economic ties with the Southeast Asian financial hub, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal are in Singapore for high-level talks. A 70-member Indian business delegation accompanying Goyal will seek new investment, trade and technology partnerships, while Sitharaman is leading a ministerial delegation comprising External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Goyal, and Minister of State for Electronics and IT and Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada for the fourth India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR), scheduled for August 20. Goyal is leading around 70 senior business leaders from sectors including artificial intelligence, technology, manufacturing, infrastructure, financial services, healthcare, food and agriculture, logistics, maritime and trade.

The Commerce Ministry said the business delegation will hold government-to-business and business-to-business engagements focused on investment, market access, technology collaboration, partnerships and talent development. The ISMR will be held alongside the India-Singapore Business Roundtable, providing a parallel forum for business leaders from the two countries. The programme will also include an MoU-signing ceremony. Indian ministers are scheduled to engage with their Singaporean counterparts and other senior Singaporean leaders. Goyal will also call on Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during the visit.

Established in 2022, the ISMR is the main high-level economic mechanism between the two countries and covers advanced manufacturing, connectivity, digitalisation, healthcare and medicine, skills development and sustainability. The fourth round will review progress in these areas and identify new opportunities to strengthen the economic partnership. Singapore is a major source of foreign capital for India and a key economic partner in Southeast Asia. India is seeking to build on these investment links while expanding cooperation in technology, manufacturing, digitalisation and other emerging sectors. Bilateral trade has also grown substantially since the implementation of the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, rising from $6.7 billion in 2004-05 to $36.1 billion in 2025-26.   

The CNX Nifty ended at 24231.85, up by 153.55 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 24184.55 and 24265.15. There were 39 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 2.48%, Shriram Finance up by 2.01%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.82%, ITC up by 1.72% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.10%, Hindalco Industries down by 0.88%, Interglobe Aviation down by 0.54%, HCL Technologies down by 0.48% and Nestle India down by 0.48% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; Germany’s DAX lost 95.33 points or 0.37% to 25,996.00, France’s CAC fell 18.31 points or 0.22% to 8,483.60 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 19.82 points or 0.18% to 10,723.53.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Thursday, with South Korea’s Kospi surging 5.89% after the retreat in long-term US Treasury yields. This followed the US Treasury’s announcement that it would significantly increase debt buybacks, which eased concerns over rising borrowing costs that had weighed heavily on global equities. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield also eased after hitting a 30-year high earlier this week. Chinese shares gained as the People's Bank of China (PBoC) left its benchmark lending rates unchanged for the 15th straight month in August on Thursday, in line with market expectations. Investors shifted their focus on the National People's Congress Standing Committee meeting in Beijing on August 25-28 for further policy signals. 

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,903.72

9.30

0.24

Hang Seng

25,698.49

203.42

0.80

Jakarta Composite

6,501.58

107.45

1.65

KLSE Composite

1,736.71

5.39

0.31

Nikkei 225

66,216.79

890.37

1.36

Straits Times

5,671.91

-22.33

-0.39

KOSPI Composite

6,852.58

381.41

5.89

Taiwan Weighted

44,933.74

214.39

0.48
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