Stock Market News Today Highlights: Nifty Ends Below Crucial Support Level Of 25,450 On F&O Expiry Day, Sensex Closes Over 1,000 Points Lower

• Indian equity benchmarks snapped a two-day winning run, with losses led by HDFC Bank and L&T.
• Sensex closed over 1,000 points lower at 82,225, while Nifty 50 ended 1.1% lower and closed below 25,450 on the F&O expiry day.
• The Nifty 500 fell 0.7%, led by L&T Tech down 8.7%, followed by Affle down 7.2% and KPIT Technologies down 6.3%.
• Nine of 15 NSE sectoral indices ended lower, led by Nifty IT down 4.7%, while Nifty Metal rose 0.9%.
• Market breadth stayed weak on the BSE, with about 2,766 stocks declining and 1,455 advancing.

• TAC Infosec fell 20% and Tech D Cybersecurity dropped 13%.
• Quick Heal and Expleo Solutions were down 5% each.
• Sasken Tech declined 3%.

 

• Himadri Speciality said it has started operations at its 70,000 MTPA Hooghly unit.
• The company said the Hooghly unit’s total capacity stands at 1.3 lakh MTPA, as per an exchange filing.

KEC International said it has secured an EPC project worth Rs 1,002 crore

• Centum Electronics said it has received an order from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for a radar system.
• The company said the order value is Rs 668 crore and will be executed in two phases.

• Dow futures rose 33 points, or nearly 0.1%.
• S&P 500 futures were flat.
• Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1%.

• The Nifty monthly expiry session saw continued selling, with IT stocks remaining a key drag after AI-related updates and limited support from heavyweight stocks.
• Nifty was near its 200-day moving average level of 25,340, while India VIX was up 14% over the past five days and remained above 14.

• Nifty IT in deep red, down more than 4.5% today.
• Nifty IT at the lowest level since 3rd August 2023.
• Nifty IT falls almost 26% in the past 20 days.
• Nifty IT falls almost 21% this month.
• Nifty IT loses Rs 7 lakh crore in market cap this month.
• Last time Nifty IT fell more than 20% in a month was March 2020.
• Last time Nifty IT closed more than 20% down in a month was Sep 2008.
• Last time Nifty IT closed more than 21% down in a month was April 2003.

All four major European benchmark indices traded lower today as investors assessed the implications of US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff measures. 

• Euro Stoxx 50 down 0.3%
• France's CAC 40 down 0.2%
• Germany's DAX down 0.4%
• London's FTSE 100 down 0.3%

• Long build-up: Waaree Energies; Torrent Pharmaceuticals
• Short covering: Hitachi Energy India; Bandhan Bank
• Long unwinding: Persistent Systems; Tech Mahindra
• Short build-up: Coforge; KPIT Technologies

• Indian equity benchmarks extended declines to the day’s low, erasing gains from the last two sessions, led by Infosys, L&T and Bharti Airtel.
• Sensex fell as much as 1.6%, or 1,359 points, to 81,934, while Nifty 50 fell as much as 1.5% to 25,327, trading below 25,450.
• The NSE Nifty 500 underperformed, led by Persistent Systems down 7%, followed by Coforge and Tech Mahindra, down about 6% each.

• Shree Cement said it has commissioned the clinkerisation section at its Kodla unit.
• The clinkerisation section has a capacity of 3.65 MTPA.
• The company said clinker capacity at the Kodla unit is now 7.15 MTPA, as per an exchange filing.

• Indoco Remedies said it has received final ANDA approval from the USFDA for Brivaracetam Oral Solution.
• The company said Brivaracetam Oral Solution is used to treat partial-onset seizures.
• The update was disclosed in an exchange filing.

• Kalpataru Projects International said it will acquire the remaining 35% stake in Kalpataru IBN Omairah.
• The company will buy the stake from its JV partner BIN Omairah for SAR 10 million.
• The update was disclosed in an exchange filing.

• Taiwan rose 2.75% to 34,700.82 and Kospi gained 2.11% to 5,969.64, while Nikkei added 0.87% to 57,321.09 and NZX 50 climbed 0.83% to 13,532.31.
• Hang Seng fell 1.84% to 26,584.27 and SGX-CNBC China Growth dropped 2.01% to 1,804.631; STI declined 0.54% to 5,013.9 and Malaysia slipped 0.57% to 1,747.88.
• China ended higher with Shanghai up 0.87% at 4,117.409 and Shenzhen up 1.36% at 14,291.566; ASX 200 was flat to lower, down 0.04% at 9,022.3, while SETI rose 0.15% to 1,482.42.

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• Indian equity benchmarks extended losses to the day’s low, erasing gains from the last two sessions.
• Sensex fell as much as 1.3%, or 1,041 points, to 82,252; Nifty 50 fell as much as 1.2% to 25,416.
• Infosys, L&T and Bharti Airtel led the declines, and Nifty traded below the 25,450 support level.

• A 12:30 market note said the Nifty monthly expiry session saw a sell-off, with no major support from heavyweight stocks.
• The note said IT stocks remained a key drag after an AI-related update, while realty and IT saw larger selling.
• India VIX was up 14% over the past five days and was above 14; the note added that the technical setup looked better for Nifty Bank than Nifty, with global cues keeping sentiment fragile.

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• Morepen Laboratories rose as much as 7.9% to Rs 48.85, with trading volume almost 18 times its 20-day average.
• DEE Development rose as much as 12.3% to Rs 288, with volume almost 40 times its 20-day average.
• Bank of Maharashtra rose as much as 3.9% to Rs 72.37, with volume more than three times its 20-day average.
• Mobikwik rose as much as 12.7% to Rs 227.37, with volume more than 30 times its 20-day average.
• Physicswallah fell as much as 8.7% to Rs 88.62, with trading volume almost three times its 20-day average.

Source: Bloomberg

L&T said it has received a “significant” order worth Rs 1,000–2,500 crore.

The order is from India’s Department of Atomic Energy.

• Overall subscription stood at 3.92x as of 10:48 AM on Day 3.
• The NII portion was subscribed 6.6x.
• The retail portion was subscribed 4.99x.

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Suzlon Energy said its board has appointed Ajay Kapur as chief executive officer with immediate effect, according to a notification to the exchanges,

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• The changes take effect on March 27. There are no changes to the Nifty 50, according to Nuvama Alternate and Quantitative Research.
• Nifty Next 50 additions (estimated inflows): Tata Motors CV ($173mn), Cummins India ($114mn), HDFC AMC ($96mn), Union Bank ($66mn), Muthoot Finance ($64mn), TataCap ($22mn).
• Nifty Next 50 removals (estimated outflows): ICICI General Insurance ($86mn), Naukri ($76mn), Havells ($65mn), JSW Energy ($48mn), LIC ($36mn), BajajHFL ($15mn).

• Nifty fell as much as 0.9% to 25,482.
• Sensex fell as much as 1% or over 800 points to 82,481.

• The Nifty IT Index has fallen 35% from its record high, while Bloomberg data shows valuations remain elevated.
• The index is trading at a price-to-earnings multiple of 22.14 versus 21.30, Bloomberg data showed.
• Among the key decliners cited, Oracle Financial Services Software is down 46%, TCS has fallen 41%, and Infosys has slipped 36%.

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• Nifty opened 0.4% lower at 25,610.
• Sensex opened about 300 points lower at 82,961.68.

• Morgan Stanley maintained its overweight rating on Bharti Airtel with a target price of Rs 2450 per share.
• The brokerage said Airtel is diversifying into financial services, noting it launched lending through Airtel Finance in Q1FY25 and has disbursed about Rs 9000 crore over the past two years.
• Morgan Stanley said Airtel plans to keep operations distinct between its own NBFC activities and lending through partner banks and NBFCs, and flagged that an NBFC model would be more capital intensive while adding potential revenue streams.

• CLSA maintained its outperform rating on ITC but cut its target price to Rs 367 from Rs 485.
• The research firm noted that FY27 may take a hit from the tax change, with cigarette volumes and EBIT expected to decline, while it forecasts a recovery in FY28.
• The brokerage said that ITC may need price increases of about 33% to keep EBIT per cigarette neutral, and it cut its estimates by 4–28% to reflect the tax impact on volumes and margins.

• The rupee weakened at the open against the US dollar.
• It depreciated by as much as 6 paise to 90.94 versus the greenback.

• Nifty hovered near the 25,500 level in pre-market trade.
• Sensex was down about 350 points in early indications ahead of the open.

• Citi, HSBC and CLSA have struck a cautious note on India’s IT services sector, warning that artificial intelligence could reshape business models and put pressure on valuations, even after the sector rose about 16% year-to-date.
• The view follows a Jefferies note that said AI may permanently alter revenue structures across IT services.
• Jefferies said AI could shift the revenue mix towards consulting and implementation while reducing traditional managed services, which it said may increase cyclicality and execution risks.

Read the full report here

• CLSA said an EPS growth turnaround could change the sector narrative more than management commentary, and added that company comments point to a macro upcycle this year with tariff impact as a base.
• The brokerage said IT stock prices could face a further 5–10% downside and flagged a pecking order between Tech Mahindra and Infosys among large caps.
• CLSA said it prefers Persistent Systems and Coforge in mid-caps, and cut target prices: Coforge to Rs 2278 (from Rs 2426), Persistent to Rs 8058 (from Rs 8865), HCL Tech to Rs 1506 (from Rs 1661), Infosys to Rs 1653 (from Rs 1779), LTI Mindtree to Rs 6304 (from Rs 7067), TCS to Rs 3333 (from Rs 3593), Tech Mahindra to Rs 1698 (from Rs 1810), and Wipro to Rs 218 (from Rs 231).

• Total FII holding in the IT sector fell to Rs 4.49 lakh crore by mid-February, down 16% from end-January 2026 and 38% since the start of 2025.
• FIIs have sold nearly Rs 12,800 crore of IT stocks so far in 2026, the highest among sectors; outflows were about Rs 10,956 crore in the first fortnight of February 2026.
• Four of the last five years saw net outflows from IT, with CY2025 seeing net selling of Rs 74,698 crore; CY2023 had net selling of about Rs 7,000 crore versus Rs 11,000 crore in the first 15 days of February.

• BPCL said it has received an order from the Commissioner of Central Tax and Central Excise, Kochi.
• The order confirms a total excise demand of Rs 1,816.65 crore.

• Bharti Airtel said it will capitalise its NBFC arm, Airtel Money Limited, with Rs 20,000 crore over the next few years.
• The announcement puts Bharti Airtel shares in focus in today’s trade.

• Brent crude futures fell 9 cents (0.1%) to $71.40 a barrel by 0120 GMT.
• Prices stayed below Monday’s intraday peak of $72.50, the highest since July 31

Read the full report here

• BSE said it has excluded Tata Technologies, HUDCO, Piramal Pharma and Torrent Power from its equity derivatives (F&O) segment.
• The exchange said derivatives contracts in these stocks will stop trading from May 4, 2026, and no new expiry-month contracts will be generated.

Read the full report here

 

• Mainland China markets reopened after the New Year holiday.
• The Shanghai index was at 4,107.586, up 25.513 points ( 0.62%) at the open.

• Indian equity benchmarks rose for a second straight session on Monday, led by gains in HDFC Bank Ltd. and Reliance Industries Ltd.
• The BSE Sensex closed 0.6% higher, up nearly 500 points, at 83,294.
• The NSE Nifty 50 gained 0.6% to finish above 25,700.

• The ASX 200 fell 0.18% and the Hang Seng Index slipped 0.62%
• South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.43% and Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.72%

• GIFT Nifty traded at 25,572 in early trade.
• The level indicates the Nifty 50 may open lower than the previous close.