Market Today: Sensex Falls 172 Points, Nifty Below 22,600; Auto, Pharma Stocks Decline

Stock Market Today: Sensex falls 172 points, Nifty below 22,600 as auto, pharma stocks drag

Stock Market Today: Indian benchmark indices opened lower on Thursday, October 1, as selling pressure hit several sectors and broader markets. At around 9:20 am, the Sensex was down 172 points, or 0.24%, at 72,308.01, while the Nifty 50 declined 65.50 points, or 0.29%, to 22,554.95.

The cautious opening came despite gains in IT and select banking stocks as investors turned defensive at the start of the new month.

Auto, healthcare stocks lead declines

The Nifty Auto index fell 2.07%, making it one of the worst-performing sectoral indices in early trade. M&M led the declines on the Sensex, falling 2.36%.

Healthcare and pharma stocks also remained weak, with the Nifty Healthcare index down 1.16% and the Nifty Pharma index lower by 0.89%.

The Nifty Cement index slipped 1.51%, while Oil & Gas and Realty declined 0.86% and 0.73%, respectively.

The India VIX rose 1.61% to 13.71, indicating a rise in near-term volatility.

IT, private banks buck the trend

IT stocks provided some support to the market. Infosys rose 2.07%, while TCS gained 1.49%. Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and HCL Technologies advanced 1.93%, 1.03% and 0.98%, respectively.

The Nifty IT index climbed 1.40%, emerging as the strongest major sectoral index in early trade.

Private banking stocks also traded higher, with the Nifty Private Bank index up 0.63%. Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services gained 0.28% and 0.26%, respectively.

Broader market remains under pressure

The weakness extended to mid- and small-cap stocks. The Nifty Next 50 fell 0.57%, while the Nifty Midcap 150 and Smallcap 250 declined 0.52% and 0.55%, respectively.

• The Nifty 500 was down 0.41%, pointing to broad-based selling.
• FII selling remains a concern

V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, said foreign institutional investor selling had intensified, with FIIs offloading equities worth Rs 20,128 crore over the previous two trading sessions.

He said the rise in the US 10-year bond yield to 5.3% could keep foreign selling pressure elevated. However, he noted that FII activity has been mixed, with investors continuing to participate in primary-market offerings and buying expensive mid- and small-cap stocks.

FIIs sold Rs 45,536 crore through exchanges in September but invested Rs 9,676 crore through the primary market, Vijayakumar said.

He described the current weakness as a short-term phase and pointed to falling crude prices as a potential positive for markets, with Brent crude slipping below $98.

“Investors can use this weak phase in the market to accumulate high-quality stocks, particularly large-caps in growth segments where the risk-reward ratio is favourable for investment,” Vijayakumar said.