The Indian stock market experienced a largely flat opening on Thursday, June 18, 2026, extending its winning streak for a fourth consecutive session despite minimal gains. The Federal Reserve's decision to maintain unchanged policy rates influenced the cautious sentiment.
In early deals, the S&P BSE Sensex dipped 16 points to 77,139, while the Nifty 50 recorded a slight increase of 4 points, reaching 24,090.
IT Stocks Face Declines
A notable trend in the opening session was the underperformance of the IT sector. Major technology companies, including Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, and TCS, saw their shares drop by up to 2.56%. Other significant losers included Bajaj Finance and Reliance Industries (RIL).
Conversely, several stocks managed to post gains. BEL, Trent, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Sun Pharma, and SBI all rose by up to 0.92%.
Expert Outlook Remains Positive
Market analysts offered a resilient perspective on the Indian market's trajectory.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, stated, "Indian market will not be unduly influenced by the developments on the Fed rate front. In the near term the market will remain resilient supported by the crash in Brent crude to around $78 levels. Rupee is stable at around 94.52 level. FII selling has tapered off as expected and yesterday FIIs turned buyers, though in limited quantity. Brent crude prices at around $78 level and stability in the rupee are big positives from the market perspective. Bank Nifty will remain strong with upward bias."
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, echoed a positive short-term outlook. "We are of the view that the short-term market outlook remains positive, and for trend-following traders, 24,000/77,000 would act as a key support level. Above this, the market could rally to 24,200-24,300/77,500-77,800," Chouhan commented. He added that a fall below these support levels could trigger an intraday correction.
Previous Session Performance
On Wednesday, the market had concluded on a strong note, marking its fourth consecutive day of gains. The Nifty closed up 97 points (0.40%) at 24,085.40, while the Sensex advanced 347 points to finish at 77,156. Top gainers in the previous session included Trent (7%), BEL (3%), Eternal (1.95%), and Tata Steel (1.53%).