Market Mayhem: Sensex Plummets 1,400 Points, Nifty Sinks Below 24,350

The Indian stock market faced a sharp downturn today, with the Sensex dropping nearly 1,400 points and the Nifty falling below 24,350 amidst weak global cues. The Sensex fell 1.62%, closing at 79,671.48, while the Nifty declined by 404.40 points or 1.64%, ending at 24,313.30. The market saw a broad sell-off, with 442 shares advancing, 2,368 declining, and 154 remaining unchanged. Major losers on the Nifty included Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Titan Company, and Tata Steel, while Apollo Hospital and Sun Pharma emerged as the top gainers.

Titan’s shares dropped over 4% after missing profit estimates for the first quarter, with consolidated profit falling by 5% to 7.15 billion rupees. State Bank of India (SBI) shares also fell by 2% following a modest 1% rise in net profit for Q1, but a sequential decline of 17.7%.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, attributed the crash to concerns over the US economy’s potential hard landing, exacerbated by a sharp rise in the US unemployment rate to 4.3%. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and a significant decline in the Japanese Nikkei index, which fell over 4% following a rate hike by the Bank of Japan, further contributed to the global market turmoil. Asian markets followed suit, with the Nikkei 225 dropping more than 1,600 points or 4.85%, as investors reacted to the broader economic uncertainties and the appreciating Yen.