Stock Market Today: Sensex Down 1,236 Points, Nifty Plunges 1.4%; Key Reasons Behind Share Market Decline

All sectoral indices settled lower. Nifty IT and Nifty Auto dragged the market sentiment in the closing hours. 

Broader indices fell sharply during the session. All broader indices on NSE settled sharply lower. 

Indian equity markets witnessed a sharp decline today amid broad-based selling across sectors, mirroring weakness in global equities.

"Heightened uncertainty surrounding the outcome of US–Iran negotiations has amplified concerns over the risk of a potential military escalation, raising the prospect of a wider Middle East conflict and weighing heavily on investor sentiment. Elevated index valuations at higher levels further encouraged institutional distribution rather than aggressive accumulation, adding to the downside pressure," said Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money. 

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said that the bears took charge of the Indian market as rising geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran unsettled global sentiment, leading to a broad-based sell-off.

Brent crude surged to its YTD high, exacerbating inflationary concerns and triggering heightened market volatility due to the fear of the bottlenecking of the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, uncertainty surrounding the US Fed’s rate-cut trajectory and continued weakness in the INR impacted the domestic market," Nair added. 

Sell-off intensified due to low FII participation because of the Lunar New Year holiday across key Asian markets and a non-settlement day on account of a regional banking holiday in India, he said further. 

All 30 stocks from the Sensex basket settled in negative territory. 

After trading in positive territory for a while in early trade on the back of buying in IT stocks, the domestic equity indices plunged around 1.5 per cent to settle sharply lower.

The market was dragged by overall selling sentiment.

Sensex settled 1,236 points or 1.48 per cent lower at 82,498.14, while Nifty 50 ended the session at 25,454.35, down 365 points or 1.41 per cent.

Nifty50 Plunged Over 1 per cent while Sensex fell over 1,000 points. 

The domestic equity indices fell nearly 1 per cent in the afternoon trade due to selling pressure.

After a decent uptick in the previous session, the prices of precious metals traded flat in the early session of the domestic futures market. The Gold-Silver prices on MCX were flat. 

"The Indian stock market opened on a marginally positive note, extending the ongoing multi-session rebound, supported by strength in IT and selective buying in pharma and auto stocks. Sustained DII inflows continue to provide a strong stability cushion, while FIIs turning net buyers signals an improvement in sentiment and a moderation of earlier outflow pressures, further reinforcing the near-term constructive undertone," said Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money.

The heavyweights from IT and Automobile sector trade higher in the early trade, keeping the market mementum range bound despite decline in prive bank, media and financial services stocks. 

Mirroring the key indices, broader indices also trade flat in the opening hour, keeping the overall market sentiment at same pace. 

It stocks traded higher after expericing some pressure in last session, holding the momentum in the market. HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC were top gainers from the Sensex basket. Indigo, Asian paint, BEL,  Adani Ports, ITC, Trent, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank were the losers. 

After closing the previous session in positive territory, the domestic equity indices are trading flat in the early session. Sensex opened significantly high at 83,734 against last session's closing of 83,969.82. Meanwhile, Nifty 50 opened the trade at 25,873.35. In early trade, the indices were trading slightly lower. 

On NSE, out of 2,947 stocks traded, 1,504 advanced, while 1,341 traded lower. Meanwhile, 52 stocks hit the upper circuit, and 35 hit the lower circuit. At the same time, 54 stocks hit 52 week high. 

The Gold and Silver prices surged amid buying after having a downward trend in the past sessions. The MCX surged 1.28 per cent, and MCX Silver soared 3 per cent in early trade.  

"MCX Gold futures are trading near the Rs 1,50,000–Rs 1,60,000 zone after consolidating from all-time highs around Rs 1,80,000–Rs 1,81,000. While short-term price action remains range-bound, the broader uptrend structure continues to hold, with prices sustaining above critical long-term supports. Strong buying interest is evident in the ₹1,45,000–₹1,50,000 support region," said Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money.

The IT sector stocks dragged the market sentiment a bit as they are the biggest losers among the sectoral indices.  Nifty Metal and Nifty PSU bank surged, while Nifty IT and Nifty Media traded lower. 

Broader indices trade in line with key equity indices. The majority of broader indices were trading flat in the morning trade.  

The majority of banking stocks gain in early trade as public sector banks attract buyers. 

Top Losers: Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Adani Ports, HCL Tech, TCS Top Losers

Top Gainers: Tata Steel, ITC, BEL, Ultratech Cement, SBI and Bajaj Finance

The domestic equity indices--Sensex and Nifty-- opened flat after closing in positive territory for the past two sessions.