Equity benchmarks staged a sharp recovery from the day’s low in the afternoon session. The indices extended losses in early trade, weighed down by weak global cues amid heightened geopolitical tensions, weak global markets, persistent foreign fund outflows and selling pressure in index heavyweights.
BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indices plunged over 1,280 points and 381 points so far in today’s trading session.
Sensex traded 208.66 pts or 0.25 per cent lower at 81,971.81 at 1.53 pm, moderating between 81,124.45-82,407.05. Nifty 50 traded with a marginal loss of 68.75 pts or 0.27 per cent to 25,163.75.
Both the midcap and smallcap indices depreciated nearly 2 per cent each. On the sectoral front, all indexes traded in negative territory, led by chemicals, consumer durables, banking and IT falling over 1-2 per cent.
Top movers of Nifty 50
Among the Nifty 50 components, Eternal, Power Grid Corporation, Grasim Industries, IndiGo and JSW Steel led the gainers, while Trent, Larsen & Turbo, ICICI Bank, Bharat Electronics and Apollo Hospitals dragged the most.
Market breadth remained sharply negative, underscoring the intensity of the sell-off. Of the 3,163 stocks traded on the National Stock Exchange at the time of writing, only 660 advanced, while a steep 2,415 stocks declined and 88 remained unchanged.
Weakness was further reflected in the number of stocks hitting fresh lows, with 711 stocks (including ABB India, Blue Dart, Kaynes Tech and Mankind) touching their 52-week low, compared with just 49 stocks at a 52-week high. Circuit filters also pointed to strong downside pressure, as 148 stocks were locked in lower circuits, against 23 stocks in upper circuits, highlighting broad-based risk aversion across the market.
Kalayan Jewellers top loser among midcap index
Under the midcap index, Bharti Hexacom, BHEL, Tata Communications, Dabur India, ITC Hotels and Vodafone Idea traded with marginal gains up to 2 per cent, while Kalyan Jewellers, SRF, Paytm, Coforge and LTF slumped 5-13 per cent.
Among the smallcap stocks, CreditAccess Grameen, MRPL, Hindustan Copper, Ola Electric, Newgen Software and Gillette gained 1-11 per cent, while IIFL, Navin Flourine, PGEL, Cyient, Tata Chemicals and CGCL depreciated 4-5 per cent.
Eternal, Dr Reddy’s, KEI Industries, Tata Communications, Dalmia Bharat, HPCL, Jindal Stainless, PNB Housing Finance, Waaree Energies and Supreme Industries among key companies scheduled to announce Q3 results today.