Stock Market Updates: Sensex Tanks 774 pts, Nifty Ends Near 17,900; SBI Down 4%

Sensex Today: Benchmark indices ended lower on January 25. Equity markets succumbed to severe selling pressure on Wednesday led by losses in financial stocks and the monthly F&O expiry that weakened investor sentiment.

The BSE Sensex slumped 774 points (1.3 per cent) to close at 60,205 after it recovered from its intra day low of 60,081. The NSE Nifty lost 226 points to close at 17,892.

Across the two indices, IndusInd Bank, HDFC twins, SBI, Adani Ports, Tech M, Axis Bank and Ultratech Cement were the top drags, slipping 1-4 per cent.

On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Maruti, HUL, Britannia, Tata Steel, and Hindalco firmly defied the weak trend and ended with gains of up to 1 per cent.

Within sectors, the Nifty PSB index tanked 3.6 per cent followed by bank, financial indices. Auto, metals and FMCG pockets closed nearly flat with fractional cuts.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap index cracked 1.5 per cent while smallcap index lost around 1 per cent. ACC, Adani Power, Motilal Oswal, Vodafone Idea, Concor and Aurobindo Pharma led midcap losses, sinking up to 7 per cent.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The 18200 Nifty has become a major resistance level which is keeping the Nifty iAn the narrow band of 17800-18200. Now, it appears that a major trigger is necessary to break this range either on the upside or the downside. Two major events of February 1st – the Union Budget and the Fed decision on interest rate – have the potential to break this narrow range. A good budget and positive commentary from the Fed can break the upper band. On the contrary, any negative budget proposal like raising the rate of Long Term Capital Gains Tax or a worse-than- expected hawkish Fed can break the lower end of the range. Let’s wait for the actual outcome.”