Sensex tumbles 876 points; Nifty drops below 22,900 dragged by private banks
Weak global trends, high crude prices and persistent foreign investor outflows contribute to selloff
Benchmark equity indices nosedived on Monday (October 19) after two days of rally, driven by a sharp drop in private bank stocks, mainly HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, and weak global trends.
The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 876.37 points, or 1.17 per cent, to settle at 73,852.90. During the day, it crashed 1,020.73 points, or 1.36 per cent, to 73,708.54. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 257.20 points, or 1.11 per cent, to end at 22,888.95.
Drop in banking stocks
From the 30 Sensex firms, Axis Bank declined 3.85 per cent despite the private sector lender reporting a 39.4 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 7,704.67 crore in the second quarter of FY 2026-27, supported by higher core income and improvement in asset quality.
UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Trent, NTPC and HDFC Bank were also among the major laggards.
Shares of HDFC Bank declined over 2 per cent after its September quarter earnings failed to cheer investors.
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Adani Ports, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, InterGlobe Aviation and Maruti Suzuki India were the gainers.
"Indian equities came under renewed selling pressure, reversing the recent recovery as weak global cues and selling in private banks and IT stocks weighed on investor sentiment. Private banks remained under pressure following quarterly earnings and concerns over margin trends. In contrast, PSU banks bucked the broader weakness, supported by expectations of relatively resilient margins and asset quality," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said told PTI.
What impacted the markets?
Investors reportedly lost around Rs 5 lakh crore with the total market cap of all BSE Sensex companies dropping from Rs 4,72,62,167 crore (on Friday) to Rs 4,67,46,191 crore (on Monday).
Drop in private bank stocks, sustained foreign investor outflows and high crude oil prices are said to have driven the selloff.
Together HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank accounted for more than half of the index’s decline.
Indian equities have also been under pressure from Foreign Portfolio Investor (FII) selling.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Friday after days of relentless selling. They bought equities worth Rs 1,165.92 crore, according to exchange data.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 1.07 per cent to USD 108.7 per barrel.
Asian, US markets
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Shanghai's SSE Composite index ended in positive territory, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index settled lower.
Markets in Europe were trading in negative territory.
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The US markets ended lower on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.14 per cent, the S&P 500 was down 1.09 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.34 per cent.
On Friday, the Sensex climbed 413.66 points, or 0.56 per cent, to settle at 74,729.27. The Nifty was up 148.80 points, or 0.65 per cent, to end at 23,146.15.
(With inputs from agencies)