Sensex drops over 150 pts from day's high, Nifty below 26,000: 3 key reasons behind market pullback

Stock market today: Sensex, Nifty see profit booking. 

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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The equity benchmark indices gave up early gains on Friday amid profit booking at higher levels. The persistent foreign fund outflows and weakness in the rupee also weighed on investor sentiment.

In early trade, the Sensex rose 464.63 points or 0.54 percent to touch the day’s high of 85,282.76. The Nifty advanced 139.85 points or 0.53 percent to 26,038.40. However, both indices later retreated from these levels.

At around 11:15 a.m., the Sensex was at 85,118.13, while Nifty was at 25,995.05.

Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and ITC were among the major laggards in the Nifty50 pack, declining up to 2 percent, while Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries were among the top gainers, rising up to 3 percent.

Key factors behind market slide from day's high

1) Profit booking: Investors booked profits at higher levels after the markets extended their run in early trade after the previous session’s rally. On Thursday, the Sensex had gained 426.86 points or 0.51 percent to settle at 84,818.13, while the Nifty rose 140.55 points or 0.55 percent to close at 25,898.55. FMCG, IT and PSU bank stocks were among the major sectoral laggards, slipping up to 0.53 percent.

2) FII selling: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their selling streak, offloading equities worth Rs 2,020.94 crore on Thursday. This marked the 11th consecutive session of net selling.

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3) Weak rupee: The rupee fell to a fresh record low amid a stronger US dollar and persistent foreign outflows. The local currency touched 90.56 against the dollar, breaching its earlier all-time low of 90.46 hit on Wednesday. It was last quoted at 90.46, down 0.1 percent for the day.

Rupee hits fresh record low of 90.56 against US Dollar

Technical view

According to Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the Nifty’s rise from the 25,690 zone on Wednesday met resistance near 25,900, keeping uncertainty intact over a sustained upside. He said the index may face hurdles near 26,190, and a failure to move above 25,977 or a slip below 25,854 could signal weakening momentum.