Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 460.11 lakh crore in the afternoon deals. Stocks such as Bajaj Finance, Eternal, Maruti Suzuki, Trent and IndiGo were the top Sensex losers , falling up to 3.68%.
On the other hand, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, TCS, Ultratech Cements and RIL were the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 3%.
At 2:13 pm, Sensex was trading 510 points lower at 73,351 and Nifty lost 200 pts to 22,687.
Here's a look at the factors that led to the market crash today.
Rising crude oil prices
A rise in brent crude oil prices beyond the $110 per barrel mark with investors wary of Red Sea shipping disruptions and threats to oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia today. Brent crude prices surged to $110.74 mark after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that reaching a peace deal with Iran was extremely difficult. Economic pressure will continue until Tehran stops targeting commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Profitbooking
Sectors such as banks, capital goods and auto witnessed profitbooking today, leading the losses in the market. BSE Capital goods, bankex and BSE auto tanked 2274 pts, 739 pts and 1137 pts, respectively. All sectoral indices on BSE except IT stocks slipped into the red.
Technical outlook
Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Neo said, "For day traders, 22800-22750/73600-73500 would act as key trend zones. As long as the market trades above these levels, the pullback trend is likely to continue. On the downside, the market could retest the 22,600–22,500/73600–73300 zone if it break below 22750/73500. On the other hand, if the market moves above 23,200/74800, sentiment could improve, and it could move towards 23,300–23,500/75100–75500."
Hemang Gor, Senior Research Analyst - Derivatives and Technical Research, Axis Direct said, "Global cues offer respite. Wall Street climbed Tuesday—Dow +1.02%, S&P 500 +0.28%, Nasdaq flat (-0.02%)—as healthcare led and tech lagged. Crucially, the US 10-year yield softened to 5.116%. Asian equities rallied Wednesday morning, with the KOSPI surging over 4%, Nikkei adding 1.3%, and Hang Seng flat. Locally, the undertone remains fragile below 23,150. Sustaining above this resistance targets 23,300, while breaching 22,850 support exposes 22,600. Sticky crude prices and foreign outflows remain critical headwinds."
Previous session
Sensex tanked 1,141 points from the day's high of 74,849 in the afternoon session. From the previous close of 74,729, the index was down 1021 points. Nifty too tanked 301 points to 22,845 from the previous close of 23,146.
Later, Sensex ended 876 pts lower at 73,852 and Nifty crashed 257 points to 22,888. Market cap of BSE listed firms fell to Rs 467.93 lakh crore. This indicated investors lost Rs 4.69 lakh crore in the current session against the market cap of Rs 472.62 lakh crore on October 16.
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