Equity benchmark indices and 50 slumped in Thursday’s trade, reversing gains from the previous session, as renewed tensions in West Asia dampened investor sentiment. Concerns over the fragility of the US–Iran ceasefire, along with weak cues from Asian markets and continued foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows, triggered broad-based selling across equities.
BSE Sensex plunged over 1,215 points, while NSE Nifty 50 dropped 315 points from the previous close. Rising crude oil prices added to the pressure, even as US markets had ended significantly higher in the previous session, highlighting the divergence in global cues.
At 2.31 pm, Sensex dragged 1044.21 pts or 1.35% to 76,518.69, and Nifty 50 was down 275.65 pts or 1.15% to 23,721.70.
Nifty 50 movers
Sectoral performance remained mixed, with the Nifty Metal index emerging as a key outperformer, while banking, financials, media and auto stocks led the declines.
Among Nifty 50 constituents, , Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, , Max Healthcare and NTPC were among the top gainers. On the other hand, Jio Financial Services, IndiGo, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Shriram Finance were among the biggest laggards.
Broader markets showed relative resilience despite the sell-off in frontline indices. Midcap and smallcap stocks witnessed selective buying interest.
Market breadth remained weak, with declining stocks outpacing advances on the NSE. Out of 3,219 stocks traded, 1,472 advanced, 1,654 declined and 93 remained unchanged. Around 54 stocks hit 52-week highs, while 10 touched 52-week lows. Additionally, 150 stocks were locked in the upper circuit, while 17 hit the lower circuit
Hitachi, BHEL, Ola and ITI among top movers
Within the midcap space, Hitachi Energy, BHEL, GE Vernova T&D and Groww rose around 4–4.5 per cent, while Vishal Mega Mart, Info Edge, Swiggy and KEI Industries declined 2–3 per cent.
In the smallcap segment, stocks such as Ola Electric, ITI, Meesho, Angel One and Ather Energy surged between 5–15 per cent, whereas Crompton, BLS International, Whirlpool, Cholamandalam Holdings and Poonawalla Fincorp fell 2–3 per cent.
On the BSE, Ola Electric, ITI, Apollo, STL Tech and Zen Tech zoomed 7-15 per cent, and Ixigo, Camlin, Kesoram, CCL and AGI fell 4-5 per cent.
In addition, shares of IT major TCS, Anand Rathi Wealth and GM Breweries will
Market experts emphasised that markets are currently reacting more to global cues such as oil prices and risk sentiment, and although near-term corrections may be sharp, India’s stable domestic fundamentals should prevent a prolonged downturn.