Weekly markets wrap: The benchmark indices in India closed lower for the fifth straight week after witnessing a mix of positive sentiment and selling pressure from investors.
This week, the equity market investors were trading based on the dynamic global market sentiment, rising oil prices, a volatile Indian rupee and massive FII outflows.
The NIFTY50 index lost 1.3%, closing at 22,819.60 points, while the BSE SENSEX also lost 1.3%, ending at 73,583.22 points after this week’s trading session. Despite the heightened volatility and the indices losing on a weekly basis, the stock market indices witnessed a two-day relief, closing higher before Friday’s losses.
The stock markets witnessed significant pressure this week due to the rising oil prices, foreign investors’ outflow from the Indian market, a weaker Indian rupee and the heavyweights underperforming amid no signs of relief related to the US-Iran conflict.
Stock market today
The NIFTY 50 index closed 2.09% lower at 22,819.60 points after Friday’s trading session, compared to 23,306.45 points at the previous market close, according to NSE data. The benchmark index tanked to 22,804.55 points during the intraday trading session.
While the SENSEX closed 2.25% lower at 73,583.22 points after the trading session on March 27, compared to the previous market close level of 75,273.45 points on Wednesday, according to BSE data. The Indian stock market was closed for the trading session on Thursday, March 26, on account of the Shri Ram Navami scheduled holiday.
On Friday, the indices were witnessing high selling pressure from the investors, among whom the hopes of a potential deal between the United States and Iran were seen fading amid all the uncertainty and dialogue between both nations.
Factors weighing down Indian stock market
With the US-Iran conflict closing the end of its fourth week since the beginning on February 28, the global market now awaits any potential agreement between the United States and Iran to put an end to the conflict, which has risked the supply of energy trade across the world.
This week, oil prices have ranged between as low as $93.45 per bbl to as high as $109.78 per bbl due to Israel’s frequent escalations and attacks on Iran, amid the US President’s five-day military strike pause on key energy resources. That window has been increased to 10 days from Friday, March 27, to Monday, April 6, 2026. As of 5:42 pm (IST), the Brent crude oil futures were trading 2.38% higher at $104.30 per barrel (bbl) on Friday, compared to $101.89 per bbl at the previous market close, according to Investing.com data.
Along with the rising oil prices, NSE data showed that in Friday’s stock market session, FII/FPIs have sold ₹4,367.30 crore worth of assets from the capital markets in a single day, contributing to the outflow of money from emerging markets like India to safer assets like gold and US treasuries.
In March 2026 so far, foreign investors have sold around ₹1.1 lakh crore worth of assets from the Indian market, marking a 9.4% month-on-month fall compared to February 2026.
Indian rupee dropped to a record low level of 94.82 against the US dollar due to the high demand for the global currency in times of uncertainty. The lower rate of the Indian rupee due to a stronger dollar also weighed on the benchmark stock indices, fuelling major losses on the final day.
According to the Bloomberg dollar spot index, the US greenback was trading 0.22% higher at 100.124 as of 8:13 am (EDT) on Friday, March 27, 2026.
Top 5 gainers & losers this week
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Larsen & Toubro, Apollo Hospitals, HCL Tech, and Bajaj Finance were the top five gainers on the benchmark Nifty index as of the week ended March 27.
ONGC gained 6.2%, Larsen & Toubro was up by 3.8%, Apollo Hospitals was up 2.5%, HCL Tech was up 2.3%, and Bajaj Finance gained 1.6% this week.
While others like Adani Enterprises, Bharat Electronics (BEL), Coal India, Reliance Industries, and Trent were the top five losers on the benchmark NIFTY50 index as of Friday’s trading close.
Adani Enterprises lost 5.4%, BEL lost 5%, Coal India lost 4.9%, Reliance Industries lost 4.7%, and Trent lost 4.5% as of the week ended on March 27, according to NSE data.
Top performing sectors this week
On the sectoral front, IT stocks witnessed an overall good performance this week, with the Nifty IT gaining 1.2% this week as of the market close on Friday, followed by Nifty Healthcare up 0.3%, and Nifty Pharma gaining 0.1%.
Other major sectoral indices were witnessing a red week after the benchmark stocks dragged down the segments over the last five days.
Among the weekly losers were Nifty India Defence, which lost 4%, Nifty PSU Bank was down 3.9%, followed by Nifty Bank, which lost 2.2%, Nifty Auto, which dropped 1.5%, Nifty Metal, down 2.2%, and Nifty Energy, which lost 1.9% as of Friday’s market close.
The Nifty Midcap 100 lost 1.4% this week, closing at 54,097.80 points with stocks like Bharat Dynamics down 9%, Torrent Power down 6.8%, Cochin Shipyard down 6.3%, 360 One Wam down 6.1%, and Prestige Estates Projects down 6% as of the final trading day.
However, other stocks like Oracle Financial Services up 5.6%, Coforge up 5.1%, LIC Housing Finance up 4.1%, Vishal Mega Mart up 4%, and Persistent Systems gained 3.9% this week.
On the small-cap front, the Nifty Smallcap 100 index lost 0.6% in one week after closing at 15,620 points after Friday’s trading session. Among the top weekly losers were Brainbees Solutions down 10.8%, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers down 9.3%, Redington down 7.7%, Amara Raja Energy down 7.6%, and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochem lost 7.4%.
However, stocks like Affle 3i were up 12.5%, Karur Vysya Bank up 12.1%, Five-Star Business Finance up 7.4%, Brigade Enterprises up 7.3%, and Sagility up 6.9% were among the gainers this week on the midcap index.