Mumbai’s bustling stock market wrapped up Wednesday’s session on a sour note, with the benchmark Sensex index sliding 270.84 points, or 0.33 percent, to settle at 81,909.63. The Nifty too mirrored the weakness, shedding 75 points or 0.30 percent to end at 25,157.50.
The downturn was spearheaded by sharp declines in key sectors. Consumer durables plunged 1.66 percent, while defense, PSU banks, and financial services indices fell between 0.87 percent and 1.25 percent. These heavyweights dragged the broader market lower amid cautious investor sentiment.
Not all sectors buckled under pressure. Buying interest surfaced in metals, oil & gas, infrastructure, energy, and commodities, offering some respite. However, midcap and smallcap stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off, outperforming largecaps in negativity. The Nifty Midcap 100 index tumbled 661.70 points or 1.14 percent to 57,423.65, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 dipped 149.85 points or 0.90 percent to 16,551.20.
Within the Sensex pack, gainers included Eternal, UltraTech Cement, Indigo, Adani Ports, Power Grid, Tata Steel, TCS, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, and Bajaj Finance. On the flip side, ICICI Bank, Trent, BEL, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, L&T, SBI, Maruti Suzuki, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the notable losers.
Breadth of the market leaned heavily towards sellers, with the Bombay Stock Exchange recording 1,437 advancing shares against 2,831 decliners, and 137 unchanged. Sudip Shah, Chief Technical and Derivatives Research Analyst at SBI Securities, dissected the day’s action: ‘Nifty opened lower, hitting a low of 24,920 early on. Strong buying then propelled it to 25,275-25,300, but it couldn’t hold, closing at 25,158.’
Looking ahead, Shah identifies 24,950-24,900 as crucial support for Nifty, with 25,300-25,350 acting as a resistance zone. Investors will watch these levels closely amid global cues and upcoming economic data, as markets brace for potential volatility.
