India's benchmark stock market parametres Sensex and Nifty settled in the negative zone for the third straight session on Thursday, February 20, 2025. The 30 constituent index dipped over 200 points and closed at 75,735. While, the 50 constituent gauge also finished in the negative territory at 22,913 levels. IT, banking stocks pull down Sensex Stocks like HDFC Bank, Maruti, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, Titan Ultra Cement, LT, etc were the major losers in the BSE Sensex pack. Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Private Bank register highest loss Among the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) thematic indices, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Private Bank closed with the highest losses. BSE Small Cap rallied for second day in a row The small cap stock gauge of the BSE closed in green for the second straight session on Thursday. The 20 constituent index closed 1.32% higher at 46,054 points. US President Donald Trump announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on auto, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical imports from April 25, 2025, onwards. This has led to meltdown of Indian equities and also that of other Asian markets. Asian stocks bleed Unabated FIIs selling continues On February 19, the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) had turned net-buyers of the domestic equities for the first time in last few sessions. Domestic equities have seen merciless selling from overseas investors right since September 2024. On February 19, the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth ₹1,881.30 crore. While, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,957.74 crore. FIIs selling has already crossed the ₹1 lakh crore mark in the current calendar year. Crude Oil prices buoyant In energy trading, Brent crude, the international standard, traded positively at $76.10 per barrel on Thursday.