Dalal Street Closes in Red: Sensex Loses 225 Points, Nifty Ends Below 24,200

Stock Market Today: Sensex Slips Over 225 Points, Nifty Below 24,200 as HDFC Bank, IT Stocks Weigh

Indian benchmark equity indices traded lower in late morning deals on Tuesday, dragged by losses in heavyweight banking and IT stocks, while broader markets continued to display resilience amid easing volatility.

At around 11:25 am, the BSE Sensex was down 226.69 points (0.29%) at 77,481.83 after moving between an intraday high of 77,753.18 and a low of 77,413.40. The Nifty 50 declined 62.30 points (0.26%) to 24,176.20, slipping below the crucial 24,200 level after touching an intraday low of 24,163.75.

Broader Markets Outperform

Despite weakness in the benchmark indices, the broader market remained relatively strong.

• Nifty Midcap Select: +0.13%
• Nifty Midcap 100: +0.09%
• Nifty Smallcap 100: +0.23%
• Nifty Next 50: -0.12%

Meanwhile, India VIX, the market’s volatility gauge, fell 1.54% to 12.78, suggesting investor anxiety remained subdued.

Sectoral Performance

Buying interest was visible in select sectors.

Top gainers:

• Nifty Chemicals (+1.04%)
• Nifty Cement (+0.90%)
• Nifty Media
• Nifty Realty
• Nifty Metal
• Nifty Private Bank

Top losers:

• Nifty IT (-0.55%)
• Nifty PSU Bank (-0.47%)
• Nifty Consumer Durables (-0.44%)
• Nifty FMCG (-0.37%)
• Nifty Pharma (-0.30%)

Top Movers

Among Sensex constituents, Bajaj Finserv emerged as the top performer, gaining 1.20%. It was followed by:

• IndiGo (+1.01%)
• Tech Mahindra (+0.68%)
• Titan (+0.66%)
• Kotak Mahindra Bank (+0.55%)
• UltraTech Cement (+0.51%)

On the downside, HDFC Bank led the losses, falling 1.40%, followed by:

• TCS (-1.10%)
• Maruti Suzuki (-1.02%)
• Infosys (-0.95%)
• Tata Steel (-0.72%)
• Reliance Industries (-0.70%)
• SBI (-0.65%)

What’s Driving the Market?

Investors remained cautious amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and ahead of key global corporate earnings announcements.

Although most Asian markets traded higher after crude oil prices eased on expectations of a possible ceasefire proposal involving Iran, concerns over the conflict’s impact on energy prices and global inflation continued to weigh on sentiment.

Expert View

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Ltd, said near-term market direction will largely depend on crude oil prices.

“Even though Brent crude has softened to around $88 a barrel, uncertainty remains high and there is still an upside risk to prices. This is likely to keep markets under pressure. FPI selling remains limited and is being comfortably absorbed by DII buying.”

He also pointed to improving domestic fundamentals, noting that the deficiency in Kharif sowing has narrowed to 6%, while inflows under the RBI’s concessional dollar swap facility have crossed $20 billion, providing support to the rupee.

According to Vijayakumar, another notable trend has been the continued outperformance of broader markets, a momentum that could strengthen further as first-quarter earnings gather pace.

He added that the strong quarterly performance by Paytm reflects improving growth prospects for India’s digital economy.

Technical Outlook

Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Investments Ltd, said Monday’s price action formed an “inside bar” pattern, suggesting upside momentum has weakened.

However, he believes the broader bullish structure remains intact as long as 24,099 holds on the downside.

“We prefer buying on dips while looking for fresh upside if the Nifty moves back above 24,220.”

Market participants are expected to remain focused on global developments, corporate earnings and crude oil prices for further direction through the week.