Nifty falls below 22,000; Sensex drops more than 1,000 points.
Thursday’s significant drop in benchmark stock indices was caused by a waning of investor sentiment brought on by higher volatility.
While the NSE Nifty50 dropped 1.55% to 21957.50 points, the S&P BSE Sensex slid 1,062.22 points, or 1.45%, to 72,404.17 points.
According to Wright Research founder and fund manager Sonam Srivastava, “investors seem wary of entering the markets before the elections (results) and many are locking their gains by booking profits,” as reported by Reuters.
For the eleventh straight session, the volatility index increased sharply, hitting 18.20, the highest level since October 2022.
Twelve of the thirteen major sectors experienced declines. The construction company L&T emerged as the biggest loser on the Nifty50, with a 6% decline attributed to a muted revenue growth outlook.
After posting a record profit that was largely attributed to strong loan growth, State Bank of India closed 1% higher.
The Nifty Auto index gained 0.8% as Hero MotoCorp maintained its strong momentum following its Wednesday earnings beat.
Asian Paints saw a decline of around 5% after reporting a fourth-quarter profit miss.
The mid-cap and small-cap indexes saw declines of 1.9% and 2.8%, respectively, indicating underperformance.
