Indian stocks tumble in early trade as HDFC Bank drags, Brent crude tops $90

Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s most valuable company, traded nearly 1% higher after it reported record quarterly core profit and EBITDA for the June quarter

Updated - July 20, 2026 11:31 am IST — Mumbai

PTI

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Monday (July 20, 2026), dragged by heavy selling in blue-chip HDFC Bank and a sharp spike in crude oil prices due to ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

• The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 523.22 points to 77,628.23 in early trade.
• The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 134.10 points to 24,198.25.

Key Movers

From the Sensex pack:

• Axis Bank and HDFC Bank declined nearly 5% after announcing their quarterly earnings over the weekend.

“HDFC Bank has disappointed, particularly on the NIM front,” said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited.

Other laggards from the blue-chip pack included:

• Kotak Mahindra Bank
• InterGlobe Aviation
• Maruti
• Bajaj Finance

Among the gainers:

• Bharti Airtel
• Tech Mahindra
• NTPC
• Reliance Industries
• ICICI Bank

Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s most valuable company, traded nearly 1% higher after reporting record quarterly core profit and EBITDA for the June quarter, powered by strong performances across its oil-to-chemicals and telecom businesses.

Crude Oil Impact

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, quoted 2.41% higher at $90.22 per barrel.

“There are near-term headwinds and tailwinds for the market now. The strongest headwind is Brent crude spiking above $90 on escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran. If this trend continues, India’s vulnerability to energy shock will resurface with negative implications for the rupee and FPI flows,” Mr. Vijayakumar said.

On the positive side, he noted that the weakening of the AI trade continues in markets like the U.S., South Korea and Taiwan, which could make markets like India attractive to FPIs.

Global Markets

• Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index quoted higher.
• South Korea’s KOSPI tanked 4.35%.
• U.S. markets ended lower on Friday (July 17, 2026).

FII Activity

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹376.41 crore on Friday (July 17, 2026), according to exchange data.

Previous Session

On Friday (July 17, 2026):

• The Sensex bounced back 964.58 points, or 1.25%, to settle at 78,151.45.
• The Nifty climbed 261.55 points, or 1.09%, to end at 24,334.30.

Published - July 20, 2026 11:30 am IST