With Brent crude tumbling below $80 a barrel, Sensex has zoomed over 626 points and Nifty is holding firmly above 24,650, while Bitcoin trades near ₹60.8 lakh amid improving global risk appetite. Here’s your 2 PM markets update.
📈 Afternoon Session: Market Snapshot
The 30-share BSE Sensex opened with a strong gap-up, zooming 626.43 points (0.79%) to 79,055.38, and has held onto most of those gains into the afternoon session. The Nifty 50 added over 54 points at the open to trade above 24,650-24,670, buoyed by a sharp drop in crude oil prices that eased inflation and import-bill worries for India. The BSE Midcap Select Index rose 143 points and the Smallcap Select Index gained 0.56% to 8,952.26, pointing to broad-based buying beyond just large caps. Sector-wise, autos, industrials and cement counters led the charge while IT and pharma names lagged. Top gainers on the Sensex pack included IndiGo (up 2.25%), Bharti Airtel, L&T, M&M and UltraTech Cement. On the losing side, Titan slipped over 0.62%, followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma and BEL. On the institutional front, the latest available data shows DIIs net buyers of ₹1,571.20 crore in the cash segment, while FIIs bought ₹922 crore in cash but held a net short index-futures position of over 1.5 lakh contracts — a sign of some hedging even as the market powers higher.
₿ Crypto at 2 PM — Live Prices
Bitcoin is changing hands around ₹60.8 lakh (roughly $63,900), with several trackers noting BTC pushing toward the $70,000 mark as US equities rally alongside Indian markets. Ethereum is trading near ₹1.77 lakh ($1,858.74), up about 1.24% over the last 24 hours. On the news front, institutional interest continues to build: BNY has added crypto staking to its digital-asset custody platform via Galaxy, and Samsung is reportedly positioning its 800 million Galaxy phones as potential stablecoin wallets. On the flip side, security researchers are still urging Coldcard hardware wallet users to move funds after a live exploit tied to roughly $114 million in prior losses, so custody hygiene remains a live concern for crypto holders.
💰 Live Rates — 2 PM IST
| Asset | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nifty 50 | ~24,670 | +0.22% (open gain) |
| Sensex | ~79,055 | +0.79% |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | ₹60.8L / $63,900 | Firming toward $70K |
| Ethereum (ETH) | ₹1.77L / $1,858.74 | +1.24% (24hr) |
| Gold (24K, 10g) | ₹1,43,990 | Steady-to-firm |
| Silver (1kg) | ₹2,34,900 | Tracking global cues |
| USD/INR | ₹95.16 | -0.23% (rupee firmer) |
| Crude Oil (Brent) | $79.53 | -5.06% |
📰 Top 5 Financial News Stories of the Day
- Crude oil crashes below $80, powering the Sensex-Nifty rally. Brent futures fell as much as 4.7% to around $79.53 a barrel, and WTI dropped over 5.6%, as easing Middle East tensions and accelerating OPEC+ supply additions stripped away the recent fear premium. Cheaper crude is a direct tailwind for India’s import bill, inflation trajectory and corporate margins, which is why equities rallied sharply at the open.
- Rupee touches a one-month high. The Indian rupee strengthened as oil prices fell and the US dollar softened, with USD/INR easing to around ₹95.16. Traders are keeping forward premiums in check ahead of the RBI’s upcoming policy meeting, with expectations for its market impact staying muted for now.
- HSBC flags up to $25 billion in potential FII inflows. The brokerage said India could see large foreign equity inflows if underweight global emerging-market funds move back to a neutral allocation, citing improving earnings, resilient domestic demand and lower relative volatility. HSBC favours financials, autos, retail, hospitals and select industrials as the biggest beneficiaries.
- Dr Reddy’s Labs tumbles 9% to a 52-week low. Shares of the pharma major fell sharply after a disappointing Q1 show, dragging the broader pharma pack lower even as the headline indices rallied — a reminder that stock-specific risk remains elevated heading into the rest of earnings season.
- Institutional crypto adoption keeps building. BNY Mellon is rolling out crypto staking on its custody platform using Galaxy’s infrastructure, while South Korea confirmed a January 2027 start date for its long-delayed crypto tax regime — both signals that digital assets are steadily moving from the fringe into mainstream institutional plumbing.
🌐 Global Markets & Tomorrow’s Outlook
US equities were firming in tandem with the crypto risk-on move, with Bitcoin’s push toward $70,000 seen as a proxy for broader global risk appetite. The big overnight trigger to watch remains the oil market — if Brent and WTI hold their sharp declines, that should keep sentiment supportive for Indian equities and the rupee into tomorrow’s session. Investors will also be watching for any fresh signals from the RBI ahead of its policy meeting, along with continued Q1 earnings reactions after today’s sharp move in Dr Reddy’s. Barring a reversal in crude or a surprise global risk-off event, Nifty and Sensex look set to carry today’s positive momentum into Thursday’s open.
Data sourced from live market feeds. Last updated: 2:00 PM IST, 5 August 2026. This is for informational purposes only and not investment advice.
