New Delhi, October 22 (H.S.): The domestic stock market came under severe pressure on Thursday as geopolitical tensions following attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in Saudi Arabia, coupled with elevated crude oil prices, weighed heavily on investor sentiment. Selling pressure prevailed for most of the session amid mounting global uncertainties. Although public sector bank and pharmaceutical stocks helped the market recover from lower levels during the first half of the trading session, the rebound proved short-lived as aggressive selling in the information technology (IT), fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and automobile sectors dragged the benchmarks lower. At the close of trading, both the Sensex and the Nifty ended in negative territory for the third consecutive session.
The market opened lower, with both benchmark indices beginning the day in the red. However, buyers initially attempted to stage a recovery, helping the Sensex and Nifty pare some of their early losses. Buying interest remained evident during the first two hours of trading, but selling pressure subsequently intensified. In the second half of the session, profit-booking from higher levels, combined with adverse global cues, triggered widespread selling, pushing both indices further down. The Sensex eventually closed 0.62 per cent lower, while the Nifty ended the session with a decline of 0.54 per cent.
The sustained sell-off dealt a significant blow to the market. The Sensex plunged more than 700 points from its intraday high, while the Nifty shed over 250 points from its peak and slipped below the psychologically significant 22,700 mark. The broad-based decline also eroded investors’ wealth by nearly Rs 4 lakh crore.
The BSE Sensex opened at 73,343.33, down 366.36 points, or 0.50 per cent, from its previous closing level of 73,709.69. Supported by initial buying, the index soon recovered into positive territory and touched an intraday high of 73,720.83. However, the gains failed to sustain.
After the first two hours of trading, profit-booking set in and selling pressure spread across sectors. The Sensex subsequently plunged more than 715 points from its intraday high, touching a low of 73,005.11, down 704.58 points, or 0.96 per cent. Buying at lower levels later helped the index recover 244.28 points from its intraday low. Nevertheless, it closed at 73,249.39, down 460.30 points, or 0.62 per cent.
The NSE Nifty also opened on a weak note, declining 123.60 points, or 0.54 per cent, to begin the session at 22,687.75. Initial buying lifted the index to an intraday high of 22,785. However, sellers soon regained control, intensifying the downward pressure.
Buyers made several attempts to support the market during the session, but persistent selling overwhelmed these efforts. The Nifty eventually slumped 256.50 points, or 1.12 per cent, from its previous close to touch an intraday low of 22,554.85. Shortly before the closing bell, buying in pharmaceutical and public sector banking stocks provided some support. The index recovered 132.80 points from its intraday low but ultimately settled at 22,687.65, down 123.70 points, or 0.54 per cent.
Sectoral indices displayed a mixed trend during the session. Amid widespread selling, only the Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Pharma indices managed to close in positive territory, gaining 0.07 per cent and 0.12 per cent, respectively.
In contrast, the Nifty FMCG index declined 1.41 per cent, the Nifty IT index fell 1.05 per cent, and the Nifty Auto index dropped 0.73 per cent. The broader market also remained under sustained pressure, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index closing 0.87 per cent lower and the Smallcap index ending the session down 1.14 per cent.
The market downturn resulted in a substantial erosion of investors’ wealth. The combined market capitalisation of companies listed on the BSE fell to a provisional Rs 458.39 lakh crore at the end of Thursday’s trading, compared with Rs 462.38 lakh crore on the previous trading day, Wednesday. This represented a decline of approximately Rs 3.99 lakh crore in investors’ wealth during the session.
Trading activity remained high across the exchanges. A total of 4,565 stocks were actively traded on the BSE, of which 1,462 advanced, 2,873 declined and 230 closed unchanged.
On the NSE, 3,238 stocks were actively traded. Of these, 891 closed with gains, while 2,347 ended in the red. Among the 30 constituents of the Sensex, 11 stocks advanced and 19 declined. Similarly, of the 50 Nifty constituents, 13 closed higher, while 37 registered losses.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
