The market mood has turned into a bear territory in today’s trading session with selling visible across sectors. The bears have tightened their grip in the afternoon trade, dragging benchmark indices sharply lower in intraday trade.
At this hour, the headline indices Sensex has plunged over 1,200 points, or around 1.3%, slipping below the 76,650 mark. Similarly, the Nifty has also declined more than 250 points, or about 1.1%, down below 23,900. The Nifty Bank in the intraday trade plunged nearly 1%.
“The markets are under selling pressure for a combination of factors. On the one hand investors are responding to subdued IT results cum guidance. On the other hand we are also seeing a tired bull liquidation situation too. The investors seem to be getting tired of waiting for a resolution of the US-Iran conflict any time soon. What’s added to the pressure is that FII selling has resumed for the past three days. That’s also a big worry,” said market veteran Deepak Jasani.
The fall is not limited to large caps alone, as broader markets are also under pressure. This indicates of a widespread sell-off.
Nifty sectoral losers
The weakness is visible across all sectors, with every major index trading in the red. The Nifty IT Index is the biggest laggard, tumbling nearly 5% in intraday trade.
Out of its 10 constituents, almost all stocks are trading lower at this hour.
Other sectors such as media, realty, pharma, and consumer durables are also seeing declines of over 1% each. The rest of the sectoral indices are also trading in negative territory, though losses are relatively contained below 1%.
Volatility spikes as fear rises
Adding to the nervousness, the India VIX has surged nearly 5% during the session.
The VIX, often referred to as the market’s fear gauge, reflects rising uncertainty among investors.
Key Nifty 50 losers
Among frontline stocks, IT names are leading the decline. Shares of Infosys have dropped around 6%, emerging as one of the top losers on the index.
Other IT heavyweights such as Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies are also trading sharply lower.
Apart from IT, stocks like Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, SBI Life Insurance, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, and Adani Enterprises are among the key laggards dragging the index down.
Broad market pain deepens
The selling pressure is even more visible in the broader markets. The BSE smallcap index has fallen over 1,000 points, slipping more than 2% in intraday trade.
Similarly, the BSE midcap index is down around 700 points, or over 1.5%.
Key small and midcaps losers at this hour
In the smallcap space, stocks like UTI Asset Management Company have plunged around 10%. Mahindra Logistics has declined about 7%, while Genesys International Corporation, Rupa & Company, and IRM Energy have fallen between 6% and 7%.
Midcap stocks are also under pressure. Mphasis and Persistent Systems are down around 6% each. Tube Investments of India, Gland Pharma, and Tata Communications have declined about 5%, while Nippon Life India Asset Management is down around 4.6%.
Why are markets falling: Analyst outlook
Market experts believe the current weakness is being driven by a mix of global and domestic factors.
Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments said, “Market has been continuously responding to bad news and hopes emanating from a potential deal on the West Asia conflict. A mid to long-term market direction will emerge only from clarity on the conflict resolution, particularly on the opening of the Hormuz Strait. Till then crude price will continue to fluctuate impacting the market in the process.”
“This week Brent crude is up 18% to above $106. Another negative trend from the market perspective is that FPIs have again turned sellers this week after buying for three days last week. This, along with the spike in crude, has again dragged the rupee down to 94.11 level. If this trend of FPI selling continues large caps will continue to be weak,” he added.
