Benchmark stock market indices opened lower on Thursday after heavyweight financial and banking stocks dropped, with Axis Bank witnessing a 6% drop.
The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 556.74 points to 79,592.14, while the NSE Nifty50 was down 140 points to 24,273.50 as of 9:52 AM.
Stock markets in the US were also hit as Nasdaq saw a fall of 3.64%, wiping $1 trillion on its worst day since 2022.
“Global cues have turned distinctly negative with a sharp 3.64% cut in Nasdaq, which is the worst cut in 2024. The tech stocks which have been driving the rally in the US are facing the brunt of selling due to worse-than-expected results and news,” said Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
Among the stocks that gained on the Nifty50 index were Tata Motors leading with a 3.37% increase, followed by SBI Life at 2.18%, Larsen & Toubro Limited at 1.67%, ONGC at 1.08%, and HCL Tech with a 0.39% gain.
On the losing side, Axis Bank had the biggest decline at 5.73%, followed by ICICI Bank at 2.21%, Hindalco at 2.15%, Shriram Finance at 1.95%, and Titan with a 1.81% decrease.
He further added that in India, too, the sentiments have turned a bit negative on the Budget proposals to raise the capital gains tax. More importantly, there are signs of deceleration in corporate earnings after the impressive 24% growth in Nifty earnings in FY24.
On the Nifty sectoral indices, Nifty Bank fell 1.26%, Nifty Financial Services was down 1.05%, Nifty Metal declined 1.49%, Nifty PSU Bank also plunged 1.37%.
