Markets@10: Volatility continues as many major companies report poor Q2 result

The Indian stock market, which started the day in negative territory, later turned positive. However, volatility remained high throughout the session.

The Nifty index fell to 24,004 and the Sensex dropped to 79,001, but both managed to recover slightly by the end of the session. Bank Nifty, which was also in the red earlier, eventually showed some gains. However, mid-cap and small-cap stocks continued to slide.

Asian Paints faced selling pressure following disappointing second-quarter sales and profits, causing the stock to drop by as much as 10% in the morning. Berger Paints and Akzo Nobel also saw declines of 5% and 3%, respectively.

Tata Motors initially dropped due to weaker-than-expected second-quarter results but later recovered, rising by 3%. The company, along with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), expressed positive expectations for the third quarter, with commercial vehicle sales projected to grow by up to 10%.

Equitas Small Finance Bank saw a decline of over 4% following its poor second-quarter performance.

Other stocks hit by disappointing earnings included Welspun Corporation, Jupiter Wagons, Aarti Industries, and Premier Energies, which all fell by more than 5%. Ola Electric also dropped by 3%.

Cochin Shipyard's stock declined by 4% in the morning, while shares of railway companies fell by as much as 4%.

On the positive side, LIC's shares rose by more than 2% after reporting strong second-quarter results.

The Indian rupee remained largely unchanged at Rs 84.38 against the US dollar at the start of the trading day.

Gold update

In global markets, gold prices fell to $2,670 per ounce, while in Kerala, the price of gold jewellery dropped by Rs 440 to Rs 57,760.

Crude oil prices stayed relatively low, with Brent crude trading at $73.57 per barrel.