Benchmark stock market indices closed lower after witnessing heavy selling across sectors as Sensex and Nifty shed over 1%, having started the day in green.
The S&P BSE Sensex tanked 1,236.11 points to close at 82,498.14, while the NSE Nifty50 lost 365 points to end at 25,454.35.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said that the bears took charge of the market as rising geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran unsettled global sentiment leading to a broad based sell-off.
“Brent crude surged to its YTD high, exacerbating inflationary concerns and triggering heightened market volatility on fear of bottlenecking of Strait of Hormuz. At the same time uncertainty surrounding the US Fed’s rate-cut trajectory and continued weakness in the INR impacted the domestic market,” he added.
Markets ended sharply lower, with heavy selling seen across Sensex stocks. Infosys Ltd was among the top performers despite the weak mood, but it still slipped 0.29%. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd fell 0.53%, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd declined 0.83%, HDFC Bank Ltd was down 0.93%, and Bajaj Finance Ltd also dropped 0.93%, making them the least impacted stocks in an otherwise weak session.
The sharpest fall was seen in InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which tumbled 3.26%. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd declined 2.97%, UltraTech Cement Ltd fell 2.90%, Trent Ltd dropped 2.89%, and Bharat Electronics Ltd was down 2.70%, reflecting the broad-based sell-off across sectors.
“Sell-off intensified due to low FII participation because of Lunar New Year holiday across key Asian markets and a non-settlement day on account of a regional banking holiday in India,” said Nair.
