Sensex Today Trades Lower; Nifty Below 24,100

Asian markets declined on Monday, 13 July, as investor sentiment remained focused on rising tensions in the Middle East after the United States and Iran carried out fresh military strikes over the weekend, while Tehran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The S&P 500 rose to end just short of a record high on Friday, as a blockbuster Nasdaq debut of South Korea's SK Hynix fueled optimism about memory-chip makers, while investors looked ahead to quarterly earnings season kicking off next week.

Here's a table showing how US stocks performed on Friday:

Source: Equitymaster

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading 648 points lower, and the NSE Nifty is trading 186 points lower.

TCS, HCL Tech and ONGC are among the top gainers today.

Tata Steel, Asian Paints and Maruti Suzuki on the other hand are among the top losers today.

The BSE 150 Midcap index is trading 0.4% lower, and the BSE 250 Smallcap index is trading 0.5% lower.

Barring IT sector, all other sectoral indices are trading negative today. Stocks in the capital goods sector and metal sector witnessed selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at Rs 95.69 against the US dollar.

DMart Q1 Results

Avenue Supermarts, which operates the DMart retail chain, kicked off the first quarter of FY27 on a subdued note as slowing sales at its mature stores and higher operating costs weighed on profitability despite steady revenue growth and continued store expansion.

Consolidated revenue rose 14.9% year-on-year to Rs 187.9 billion (bn) in the June quarter.

However, a similar increase in total expenses to Rs 176.4 bn, from Rs 153.2 billion a year earlier, limited profit growth.

As a result, consolidated net profit increased 11.3% to Rs 8.6 bn. Higher employee costs, finance expenses, and other operating costs continued to weigh on profitability during the quarter.

Growth at DMart stores that have been operational for more than two years slowed to 5.5% in Q1 FY27, compared with 7.1% in the corresponding quarter last year. Growth at older stores in large metropolitan markets, which generate significantly higher revenue per square foot, remained flat during the quarter, while stores in non-metro markets continued to perform relatively better.

The weaker performance comes as DMart faces intensifying competition in India's largest cities, where quick commerce platforms such as Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto are capturing a growing share of consumers' everyday spending.

Airtel's Next Growth Drivers

Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom service provider, plans to focus on data centres, cloud services, and financial services as the next phase of its growth strategy, according to Chairman Sunil Mittal's message in the company's FY26 Annual Report.

After investing Rs 3.3 trillion over the past decade to build digital infrastructure, the company is now directing investments toward new growth engines supported by resilient and secure digital infrastructure.

Airtel believes its expansion into financial services, data centres, and Airtel Cloud has delivered encouraging results, strengthening its confidence in these three adjacent businesses. The company aims to drive future growth by continuing its customer-first approach, disciplined execution, and long-term strategy.

In February 2026, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved Airtel Money to operate as a non-deposit-taking non-banking financial company (NBFC), marking a key step in Airtel's financial services ambitions. The company had also announced an investment of Rs 20 billion over the next few years in Airtel Money, with 70% of the funding coming from Airtel and the remaining 30% from parent Bharti Enterprises.

The company's data centre subsidiary, Nxtra Data, is also set for significant expansion, with plans to increase its capacity from 300 MW to 1 GW over the next few years through additional investments.

Meanwhile, Airtel Cloud is witnessing encouraging early traction. The company said its sovereign, telco-grade cloud platform is designed to meet the growing demand for cloud services hosted within India while offering customers a secure and cost-effective solution.

Airtel also stated that it is working to ensure the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is broad-based, responsibly implemented, and aligned with India's long-term technology priorities.

SAIL Eyes Stainless JV

State-owned SAIL and Indonesia's PT Krakatau Steel are exploring the development of a stainless steel project with a production capacity of 0.5 million tonnes (MT) to 1 MT under a proposed joint venture.

The two companies recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to evaluate the formation of a joint venture for manufacturing stainless steel slabs to cater to India's growing demand for the metal.

The final capacity of the project will be decided after the joint venture is established. Under the proposed plan, stainless steel slabs would be produced in Indonesia and supplied to SAIL's Salem Steel Plant (SSP), which manufactures a wide range of stainless steel grades for sectors such as nuclear, petroleum, chemicals, and automobiles.

The proposed manufacturing base in Indonesia is expected to provide a cost advantage due to the country's abundant nickel reserves, a key raw material used in stainless steel production.