Mumbai, February 19 – The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty experienced a significant drop in trading on Thursday, driven by a broad-based profit-booking spree in real estate, power, and auto stocks, as well as rising crude oil prices globally.
During the mid-session trading, the 30-share BSE Sensex plunged by 869.96 points, or 1.03%, to close at 82,864.29.
The broader NSE Nifty declined by 251.6 points, or 0.97%, to close at 25,567.75.
Among the Sensex-listed companies, Trent, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndiGo, UltraTech Cement, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharat Electronics Ltd, PowerGrid, Adani Ports, ITC, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, and Bharti Airtel were among the major decliners.
In contrast, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services were the only gainers.
Among the sectoral indices, real estate experienced the largest drop of 1.81%, followed by power at 1.30%. Consumer discretionary fell by 1.14%, auto declined by 1.12%, capital goods decreased by 1.10%, and utilities lost 1.09%.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said, "It appears to be a near-term, broad-based sell-off as the market has performed well month-to-date, triggering profit booking. These are also affected by factors that may lead to reduced participation by foreign institutional investors due to the Lunar New Year holiday period across Asian markets."
Additionally, Thursday is a non-trading day due to a banking holiday. While these factors typically do not influence market direction, they can affect trading mechanics, liquidity, and volumes, he added.
Meanwhile, Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 0.34% to $70.58 per barrel.
"Heightened crude price volatility – with Brent crossing $70 amid delays in the US-Iran deal and rising tensions in the Strait of Hormuz – is weighing on the Indian equity market," Nair said.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi closed 3% higher, while Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark closed 1% up. Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China remained closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.
The US equity market closed higher on Wednesday.
Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,154.34 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors were also net buyers of stocks worth Rs 440.34 crore, according to exchange data.
On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped by 283.29 points to close at 83,734.25, while the broader NSE Nifty gained 93.95 points to close at 25,819.35.
