- Sensex Plunges 1,630 Points From Day’s High; Nifty Slumps 518 Points

New Delhi, May 29 (H.S.): Uncertainty surrounding the ongoing peace talks between the United States and Iran, sustained selling by foreign institutional investors, and intense profit-booking pressure turned Friday into a “Black Friday” for the Indian stock market. The domestic equity benchmarks ended the session sharply lower amid broad-based selling across sectors.

The trading session began on a mixed note, and both the Sensex and the Nifty initially gained momentum with support from early buying. However, selling pressure started mounting after 10 a.m., dragging the markets steadily lower throughout the day.

A wave of aggressive profit-booking around 3 p.m. triggered a sharp decline in both benchmark indices. The BSE Sensex tumbled as much as 1,630 points from its intraday high, while the NSE Nifty plunged 518 points from its peak level during the session. By the close of trading, the Sensex had declined 1.44 percent, while the Nifty ended 1.50 percent lower.

Most sectoral indices closed in the red during the day’s trading. Heavy selling was witnessed in public sector enterprise (PSE), oil and gas, and metal stocks. The healthcare, FMCG, consumer durables, capital goods, automobile, and banking sectors also ended lower. On the other hand, buying in information technology stocks helped the Nifty IT Index close 0.60 percent higher.

The broader market also remained under persistent selling pressure throughout the session. As a result, the Nifty Midcap Index closed down 1.33 percent, while the Smallcap Index ended the day with a decline of 0.85 percent.

The sharp fall in equities wiped out more than ₹5 lakh crore from investors’ wealth in a single session. The market capitalization of companies listed on the BSE declined to ₹464.98 lakh crore (provisional) by the end of trading, compared to ₹470.15 lakh crore in the previous trading session on Wednesday. Investors thus suffered a notional loss of nearly ₹5.17 lakh crore during the day.

A total of 4,463 stocks witnessed active trading on the BSE during the session. Of these, 1,670 stocks advanced, while 2,599 declined and 194 remained unchanged. On the NSE, 3,006 stocks were actively traded, with 925 ending in the green and 2,081 closing in the red. Among the 30 Sensex constituents, four stocks ended higher while 26 declined. Similarly, out of the 50 Nifty constituents, only five closed with gains, whereas 45 ended lower.

The BSE Sensex opened 120.71 points higher at 75,988.51. Supported by early buying, the index soon surged 352.22 points to touch an intraday high of 76,220.02. However, profit-booking soon emerged, causing the index to reverse direction.

Relentless selling pressure dragged the Sensex down sharply, and shortly before the close it had fallen 1,630.91 points from the day’s high to touch 74,589.11, reflecting a decline of 1,278.69 points. Late-session buying during intraday settlement helped the benchmark recover 186.63 points from the day’s low, allowing it to close at 74,775.74, down 1,092.06 points.

In contrast to the Sensex’s positive opening, the NSE Nifty began the session with a marginal decline of five points at 23,902.15. Early buying pushed the index up by 95.65 points to an intraday high of 24,002.80. However, persistent selling later pulled the benchmark sharply lower.

Shortly before the close, the Nifty had slumped 518.05 points from the day’s high to touch 23,484.75, reflecting a decline of 422.40 points. The index later recovered 63 points from the day’s low but still ended the session down 359.40 points at 23,547.75.

Among the major gainers of the day were Tech Mahindra, which rose 1.94 percent, followed by HCL Technologies up 1.60 percent, Wipro gaining 1.32 percent, Larsen & Toubro advancing 0.72 percent, and Infosys ending 0.09 percent higher.

On the losing side, InterGlobe Aviation declined 3.61 percent, followed by Eicher Motors down 3.26 percent, Bajaj Auto losing 3.22 percent, Power Grid Corporation of India falling 3.20 percent, and ONGC ending 3.16 percent lower.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar