Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Oct.28: The Indian equity benchmarks fell sharply on Thursday, posting their worst single-day performance since April 12, 2021, analysts said, as investors’ sentiment was dented by lower-than-expected September quarter corporate earnings, continued selling of Indian equities by foreign institutional investors amid heightened volatility due to the monthly expiry of October future and option contracts. The Sensex plunged as much as 1,366 points, and the Nifty 50 index fell as much as 411 points below its key psychological threshold of 17,800.
The Sensex fell 1,159 points, or 1.89 percent, to 59,985, while the Nifty 50 index fell 354 points, or 1.94 percent, to 17,857.
According to data from the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), foreign portfolio investors have sold shares worth Rs 9,295.78 crore in Indian markets so far.
The selling pressure was so extreme that the National Stock Exchange’s 15 sector gauges all ended lower, with the Nifty PSU Bank index, which tracks state-run lenders, falling more than 5%. The Nifty Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, IT, Media, Metal, Pharma, Realty, and Oil & Gas indices have all dropped by 2-3.5 percent.
The Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 1.96 percent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 1.85 percent, indicating that mid- and small-cap stocks were also under pressure.
The top Nifty loser was Coal India, which slid 3.72 percent to settle at 167. Axis Bank, Cipla, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Titan, NTPC, Hindalco, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, Eicher Motors, and Wipro all had their stock prices fall between 2% and 3.6 percent.
IndusInd Bank and Larsen & Toubro, on the other hand, were among the top Nifty gainers after reporting higher-than-expected September quarter earnings. Among the significant gainers were UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, Shree Cement, and Maruti Suzuki.
On the BSE, the overall market breadth was quite negative, with 2,295 shares closing lower and 985 closing higher.
