Indian equity benchmarks faced a significant drop on Tuesday for the second consecutive day, with both indices falling by approximately 0.5% amidst geopolitical tensions. Sensex plummeted by 0.62%, around 474 points, hitting an intraday low of 75,541 in early trade, while Nifty was down by 0.53% or 126 points, trading at 23,689.
Notably, sectors such as IT, chemicals, realty, cement, and financial indices experienced notable declines of over 2%. Companies like Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, HCL Tech, Wipro, SBI Life, HDFC Life, Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and Bajaj Finance were among the top losers.
On the other hand, Nifty Metal, Nifty Oil & Gas, and Nifty PSU Bank were the only sectors showing positive trends. The Sensex opened at 75,688.39, down 0.43%, while the 50-scrip basket started the session at 23,722.60, lower by 0.4%.
According to market experts, sectors like pharmaceuticals and FMCG are expected to remain resilient despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s austerity appeal. The pharmaceutical sector, with its inelastic demand and benefits from rupee depreciation, is likely to remain unaffected. Additionally, there are positive signs of recovery in capital goods, reflecting a surge in private capex.
In the commodities market, Brent crude rose by 1.09% to $105.35 per barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 1.23% to $99.28 per barrel. Across global equities, Asian markets displayed mixed trends, with Japan’s Nikkei up by 0.48%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gaining 0.31%, and South Korea’s KOSPI declining by over 2%. In the US, the S&P 500 closed 0.19% higher, while the Nasdaq settled 0.10% up.
