Stock Market Highlights: Investors Lose Rs 8.7 Lakh Crore As Sensex, Nifty Drop To Over Six-Month Low
Intraday, the NSE Nifty 50 declined 1.58% to 22,976.8 and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.86% to 75,641.8.
The Indian benchmark indices extended the selloff on Tuesday to close at the lowest level since the June crash as uncertainty around US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs spooked investors. The spike in volatility comes on the weekly expiry of the Sensex futures contracts.
The session swung between gains and losses to fall past 1.5%, led by a selloff in reality and energy stocks. Zomato plunged 13%, while Dixon Technologies tumbled 14% during the day on weak third-quarter earnings.
The S&P BSE Sensex closed 1,235.08 points or 1.6% down at 75,838.36, while the NSE Nifty 50 was 320.10 points or 1.37% lower at 23,024.65. Intraday, the NSE Nifty 50 declined 1.58% to 22,976.8, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.86% to 75,641.8.
Trump initially opted against announcing any new levies in his inauguration speech but the US dollar later rose on reports that he plans to impose threatened tariffs of as much as 25% on Canadian and Mexican imports as soon as Feb. 1. Following this, Asian stocks gave up early gains.
Analysts at Kotak Securities expect the early part of 2025 to be similar to the second half of the calendar year 2024. Indian markets are expected to stay directionless, Kotak said. Global markets face uncertainty from policy measures from the US administration and high geopolitical tensions.
The market consistently faced selling pressure at higher levels which led to the formation of a long bearish candle on the daily charts, according to Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities. "We are of the view that, as long as Nifty below 23,100, the weak sentiment is likely to continue."
The current market texture is volatile and thus, level-based trading would be the ideal strategy for day traders, Chouhan said.
ICICI Bank Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Trent Ltd., State Bank of India, and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. contributed the most to the fall in the Nifty.
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd., Tata Consumers Products Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corp. and UltraTech Cement Ltd. led the gains.
On the NSE, all the 12 sectors ended in the negative. The Nifty Realty led the fall with a fall of over 4%, followed by PSU Energy. PSU Banks and Finance fell over 1.5%, while the Nifty Auto tumbled 1.6% and the Nifty FMCG declined the least.
On the BSE, all 21 sectors ended in the red, with Realty emerging as the top loser.
The broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices as the BSE MidCap and SmallCap closed 2% and 1.94% down respectively.
The market breadth was skewed in favour of the sellers as 2,744 stocks declined, 1,200 advanced and 114 remained unchanged on the BSE.
