Sensex falls 824 pts to over 7-month low on selling in IT & oil, gas stocks
Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex tanked 824 points to settle at more than seven-month low on Monday following heavy selling in IT and oil & gas shares amid weak global trends and increased uncertainty over US trade policy.
The 30-share BSE barometer plunged by 824.29 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 75,366.17 with 23 of its constituents ending lower and seven with gains.
The broader 50-share Nifty dropped by 263.05 points or 1.14 per cent to close at 22,829.15, tanking below the 23,000-level for the first time since June 6, 2024.
IT, telecom, utilities, power, consumer durables, oil and gas and healthcare sector shares were major losers as investor sentiment was hit by uncertainty over US trade policy.
Among Sensex shares, HCL tech fell the most by 4.49 per cent followed by Zomato, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid and Tata Motors.
Shares of Infosys, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel also declined, dragging the index to more than seven-month lows.
ICICI Bank, however, bucked the trend and rose 1.39 per cent following upbeat third-quarter results. Hindustan Unilever, M&M, SBI and L&T were among the other gainers.
The BSE SmallCap gauge declined 3.51 per cent and Midcap index slumped 2.68 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices, telecommunication plummeted the most by 3.83 per cent and Focuses IT by 3.34 per cent. IT (3.31 per cent), Tech (3.04 per cent), Metal (2.86 per cent), Healthcare (2.73 per cent), Industrials (2.63 per cent), Oil & Gas and Commdities (2.42 per cent each) and Utilities (2.41 per cent) also declined.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies tanked Rs 9,20,654.51 crore to Rs 4,10,31,199.48 or $4.75 trillion.
The overall market breadth was negative as 3,588 shares declined, 532 advanced and 114 stocks remain unchanged.
The rupee depreciated 9 paise to close at 86.31 against the US dollar on Monday, as strong dollar demand and a muted trend in domestic equities weighed on investors’ sentiments.
