The Indian stock market traded lower on Wednesday, with Sensex and Nifty falling nearly 1% each. Rising worries about further escalation in the Middle East conflict and surging oil prices spooked bulls trying to return to Dalal Street.
Sensex plunged more than 760 points to 72,836, while Nifty 50 lost over 190 points and fell below 22,556 in early Wednesday trading. The drop wiped nearly Rs 3 lakh crore from the total market capitalisation of all companies listed on BSE, pulling it below Rs 460 lakh crore.
Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and TCS shares dropped 2-4% to lead losses on Sensex. ITC, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Titan, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, UltraTech Cement, BEL, Eternal, Tata Steel, HUL and HDFC Bank shares fell 1-2% each to follow. Bucking the trend, L&T shares jumped 4% following its Q2 results
Broader markets, however, outperformed, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 250 indices falling up to 0.5%. Among the sectoral indices, Nifty IT plunged over 3% to lead losses, while Nifty FMCG and Nifty Oil & Gas fell more than 1% each.
India VIX, which measures market volatility, jumped over 4% to cross 17. The overall market breadth turned negative, with NSE seeing 1,740 declines and 1,023 advances, while 99 stocks remained unchanged.
Here are the key factors pushing the market down today:
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they have struck Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery with a missile, escalating attacks against the world's second-largest crude producer. Saudi authorities had not immediately confirmed the strike on the facility, which has a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day.
Also Read | Jio Platforms gets first Buy call! Nomura says ‘disruptor now the leader’; starts coverage with Rs 1,340 targetAs a result, Brent crude futures rose above $115 per barrel while WTI Crude futures rose above $101 per barrel. This came after oil prices dropped by nearly $2 on Tuesday after talks in the Middle East helped ease concerns over supply disruptions.
2) IT stocks plunge amid global AI optimism
India’s much-touted IT stocks, which are seen as the ‘anti-AI’ trade, plunged up to 4% and weighed on the overall market. This came as the overall global AI optimism rebounded, with South Korea’s Kospi rallying more than 6% after chip heavyweight SK Hynix reported a record-high operating profit of 83.3 trillion won ($62.8 billion) for the last quarter, up nearly sevenfold from a year earlier and beating market estimates.
SK Hynix and Samsung shares surged up to 9%. Japan's Nikkei 225 rallied 1%. Semiconductor maker Kioxia Holdings jumped 10% ahead of its quarterly earnings report on Friday. Notably, India’s IT stocks had rallied recently when global AI stocks dropped as analysts began to sound the alarm over bubble-like circumstances amid the excessive optimism over artificial intelligence
3) Bond yields soar back above 5%
After easing below the crucial psychological mark of 5%, the bond yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes jumped back above the threshold. The 30-year bond yields rose above 5.3% while that on the 2-year notes, which moves in tandem with Fed rate decision expectations, neared 4.75%.
Rising bond yields make the debt market more attractive when compared to the riskier equity markets. This typically leads to some money following out of the stock market to the debt market.
4) All eyes on Fed FOMC meeting outcome
Investors are now closely eyeing the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting, which begins today. While market analysts mostly expect the American central bank to keep interest rates unchanged, the country’s war on Iran, launched in late February, has sent energy prices skyrocketing and fueled domestic inflation, alongside its wide-ranging tariff policies.
In this environment of surging inflation, mid-term elections, which begin on November 3 will also be closely tracked for impact on the market.
What lies ahead for Dalal Street?
The market has turned decisively weak, with reports of possible renewed strikes by the US on Iran after the mid-term elections in the US, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments. He noted that Brent crude has again firmed up to above $115, which is bad news for the Indian economy and markets.
“Today’s market action will be focused on the Jio Platform listing. The QIB portion of the IPO was oversubscribed by 70.5 times. there will be a huge appetite for the stock at fair valuations,” the analyst said.
For the Indian market to revive, there are two important conditions now. “One, crude prices have to decline. There is no clarity on that. Two, FPIs have to stop their relentless selling and turn buyers. For this to happen, changes in the LTCGs tax appear inevitable now. There is a high probability of this happening since the massive FPI outflows - $19 billion in 2025 and $31 billion so far this year- have started hurting India’s otherwise good macros,” the analyst said.
Even though Nifty’s dips were contained above 22,630 yesterday, volatility set in after testing 22,800, stalling further advance, said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Investments. While both were on anticipated lines, the attack on support in the latter half point to weakness, leaving 22,500-250 exposed.
“We will need to see consistent trades above 22,715 or bargain hunting from the 22,500 region to renew upside hopes,” the analyst said.
Disclaimer: This article has been written by Debaroti Adhikary, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Debaroti Adhikary and his/her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimers here.
