Thursday brought a rude shock to Dalal Street as the Indian stock market nosedived, erasing billions in value. BSE Sensex closed at 82,498.14 after a 1,236-point (1.48%) collapse, and NSE Nifty wrapped up at 25,454.35, down 365 points (1.41%). Uniform red across Nifty indices highlighted the scale of the downturn.
A tepid open with slight upticks gave way to relentless selling in banking, metal, auto, and FMCG spaces. This broke the prior three-day rally, pushing both indices into steep declines from early highs.
The Sensex bottomed at 82,264.20 (over 1,400 points off peak), while Nifty fell past 25,400 (more than 400 points). Culprits included spiking oil costs, US-Iran geopolitical risks, and widespread profit harvesting in leading firms.
Every Sensex component bled, with top losers IndiGo, M&M, UltraTech Cement, Trent, BEL, Kotak Bank, Reliance, Tech Mahindra, and ITC dropping up to 3.2%. Nifty Midcap 100 slid 1.59%, Smallcap 100 1.27%.
Hardest-hit sectors: Realty, media, auto (2% each); FMCG, private/PSU banks (over 1%). The fallout? A colossal 53 lakh crore wipeout, reducing BSE market cap to 466 lakh crore.
In February’s first fortnight, FPIs sold 10,956 crore of IT stocks amid 29,709 crore total inflows. This sharp correction serves as a reminder of oil and global tension sensitivities, with recovery prospects uncertain.