Pulse of the Street: Seven weeks down, a recovery remains elusive

Indian equity benchmarks closed lower for a seventh consecutive week, the longest losing streak since the February-April 2020 pandemic sell-off. Crude oil futures fell 1.4% to $105.06 a barrel, but prices above $100 continued to pressure the rupee and inflation while persistent FPI selling weighed on sentiment. The BSE Realty index gained 3.4% as the week's strongest sector, while telecom, IT and power stocks led declines of 2.2%, 1.7% and 1.5% respectively.