Indian benchmark indices extended their losing streak for a fourth consecutive session on July 23, weighed down by elevated crude oil prices as escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East dampened investor sentiment.

Amid mixed global cues, the Indian equity market opened lower and staged a partial recovery during the first half of the session. However, selling pressure intensified in the latter half as bears regained control, dragging the Nifty to an intraday low of 23,807.20. The index eventually settled near the day's low, with broad-based selling across sectors, except auto and media, reflecting the cautious mood among investors.

At close, the Sensex was down 363.66 points or 0.47 percent at 76,391.39, , and the Nifty was down 126.65 points or 0.53 percent at 23,869.60.

The broader market underperformed the benchmarks, with Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 falling 1% each.

Biggest Nifty losers included Adani Enterprises, Shriram Finance, Nestle India, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance, while gainers were Bajaj Auto, SBI Life Insurance, M&M, TCS and Eicher Motors.

Sectoral performance remained broadly weak, with only a handful of indices ending in the green. On the downside, Nifty Realty emerged as the worst-performing sector, falling 1.8%, followed by Nifty Oil & Gas, Infrastructure, PSU Bank and Nifty Energy down 1% each.

Other laggards included Nifty Metal (-0.7%), Nifty Pharma (-0.4%), Nifty FMCG (-0.4%), Nifty Consumer Durables (-0.4%).

Nifty Auto index outperformed, gaining 0.7%, followed by Nifty Media, which rose 0.22%.

Nearly 100 stocks touched their 52-week high on the BSE, including Dr Reddys Labs, Cello World, JSW Holdings, IRCTC, Tata Elxsi, IRFC, Rail Vikas, Gujarat Energy, among others.

On the other hand, nearly 100 stocks touched 52-week low including Cello World, JSW Holdings, Indiamart Intermesh, Dr Reddys Labs, Gujarat Energy, Tata Elxsi, IRFC, IRCTC, Rail Vikas,  among others.

Indian rupee ended flat at 96.57 per dollar on Thursday versus previous close of 96.57.

Among individual stocks, HEG shares added 4% as Q1 profit jumps 16.7% and revenue increases 11.1%, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories shares fell 1% on reporting 69% YoY decline in Q1 net profit.

Shares of IndusInd Bank lost more than 6% despite posting 46.5% YoY jump in Q1 profit and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) share price slipped more than 2% on reporting Q1 losses at Rs 11,526.4 crore.

Shares of Tanla Platforms surged 10% on reporting 20.1% increase in Q1 profit, while Vishal Mega Mart shares shed 2% despite profit rising 26% year-on-year.