Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex tanked 824 points to settle at more than seven-month low on Monday following heavy selling in IT and oil & gas shares amid weak global trends and increased uncertainty over US trade policy. The 30-share BSE barometer plunged by 824.29 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 75,366.17 with 23 of its constituents ending lower and seven with gains. During the day, the barometer plummeted 922.87 points or 1.2 per cent to a low of 75,267.59.
The broader 50-share Nifty dropped by 263.05 points or 1.14 per cent to close at 22,829.15, tanking below the 23,000-level for the first time since June 6, 2024. In the intraday session, the NSE Nifty declined 305.3 points or 1.32 per cent to 22,786.90. IT, telecom, utilities, power, consumer durables, oil and gas and healthcare sector shares were major losers as investor sentiment was hit by uncertainty over US trade policy.
US President Donald Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs on Colombia after the latter blocked planes carrying deported migrants. The US reversed the decision after Colombia, a close US ally, agreed to take back deported migrants. "Broad-based selling across sectors plummeted the Indian market amidst tepid earnings and weak sentiments across the globe," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.
"The weak sentiments were further exacerbated as the US trade confrontation continued, like with Colombia this time. Heightened volatility is here to stay this week ahead the upcoming events risk like the FOMC meeting, expiry week, and Union budget," Nair added. Among Sensex shares, HCL tech fell the most by 4.49 per cent followed by Zomato, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid and Tata Motors.
Shares of Infosys, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel also declined, dragging the index to more than seven-month lows. ICICI Bank, however, bucked the trend and rose 1.39 per cent following upbeat third-quarter results. Hindustan Unilever, M&M, SBI and L&T were among the other gainers.
"A combination of factors like weak US and European market cues, monthly F&O expiry later this week, persistent FII fund outflows, and muted third quarter corporate earnings so far have continued to push investors in reducing their equity exposure," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
Strong selling in IT, telecom, metals, oil & gas and realty dragged Sensex below the 76k mark, whereas investors continued to exit mid and small-cap stocks on worries that slowdown in earnings will fail to match the higher valuations assigned to them, Tapse added. The BSE SmallCap gauge declined 3.51 per cent and Midcap index slumped 2.68 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices, telecommunication plummeted the most by 3.83 per cent and Focuses IT by 3.34 per cent. IT (3.31 per cent), Teck (3.04 per cent), Metal (2.86 per cent), Healthcare (2.73 per cent), Industrials (2.63 per cent), Oil & Gas and Commdities (2.42 per cent each) and Utilities (2.41 per cent) also declined.
In the broader market, LT Foods shares fell more than 4 per cent to settle at Rs 379.85 apiece on BSE after the company posted disappointing Q3 earnings, marked by a decline in net profit and weak operational performance. IDFC First Bank shares plunged 8.85 per cent to close at Rs 56.76 per piece. During the day, the stock tanked 9.33 per cent to hit a 52-week low of Rs 56.46 per share.
CDSL shares slumped more than 10 per cent to finish at Rs 1,342.90 apiece on the NSE after the company reported its lower-than-expected Q3 earnings performance. Overall market breadth was negative as 3,522 stocks declined while 593 advanced and 119 remained unchanged on the BSE. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies slumped by Rs 9,28,229.09 crore to Rs 4,10,23,624.90 or (USD 4.75 trillion).
In Asian markets, Shanghai and Tokyo closed lower due to weak manufacturing data. European markets also traded lower in early sessions with Germany's DAX dropping 1.1 per cent, the CAC 40 in Paris falling 0.8 per cent and Britain's FTSE 100 by 0.3 per cent. US stocks in futures trade also declined.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,758.49 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Global oil benchmark Brent crude edged up 0.22 per cent to USD 78.67 a barrel.
