Equity benchmarks deepened their losses in afternoon trading on Thursday, as investors continued to process the U.S. Federal Reserve’s less dovish stance on future interest rate cuts. The BSE Sensex fell 858.92 points or 1.07 per cent to 79,323.28, while the NSE Nifty declined 225.05 points or 0.93 per cent to 23,973.80 at 12.35 PM.
The markets had opened significantly lower, with the Sensex starting at 79,029.03 compared to its previous close of 80,182.20, following weak global cues after the Fed projected fewer rate cuts than expected for 2025.
Market breadth remained negative with 2,320 stocks declining versus 1,553 advances on the BSE. The session saw 189 stocks hitting 52-week highs while 50 touched their 52-week lows. Circuit filters were triggered for 278 stocks on the upper end and 191 on the lower end.
Key sectoral indices showed widespread weakness, with Nifty Financial Services dropping 1.16 per cent and Nifty Bank falling 1.01 per cent. The Nifty Next 50 decreased by 0.72 per cent, while the Nifty Midcap Select showed relative resilience with a modest decline of 0.20 per cent.
Among individual stocks, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories led the gainers, rising 3.44 per cent, followed by BPCL at 2.10 per cent. Cipla advanced 1.45 per cent, while Tata Consumer Products and Hero MotoCorp both gained 0.71 per cent.
On the losing side, Asian Paints emerged as the top decliner, falling 2.52 per cent. Bajaj Finserv dropped 2.14 per cent, followed by Infosys at 2.09 per cent. Grasim Industries and Bajaj Finance declined 2.02 per cent and 1.99 per cent respectively.
The market sentiment remained cautious with 3,988 stocks traded on the BSE. The current market dynamics reflected ongoing concerns about the pace of potential interest rate cuts, with foreign institutional investors maintaining their selling stance after offloading ₹8,005.40 crore worth of shares in the previous three sessions.
The broader market indicators suggested continued pressure on valuations, though pharmaceutical stocks showed some strength with major companies like Dr Reddy’s and Cipla posting gains amid the overall market weakness.
