Sensex drops 700 pts to 79,400, Nifty at 24,150 amid high volatility; broader market slumps

Indian markets continued their losing streak on October 25, marking the fifth consecutive session of declines, as Sensex and Nifty both traded down around midday. At 11:53 AM, the Sensex slipped 678 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 79,386, and the Nifty lost 265 points, or 1 per cent, to trade at 24,133. The market saw widespread selling pressure, with only 459 shares advancing, while 2,826 shares declined, and 82 shares remained unchanged.

Broader indices took a significant hit, with the BSE Midcap index down by 2 per cent and the BSE Smallcap index nearly 3 per cent lower. India VIX, a volatility indicator, spiked over 7 per cent to reach 15, highlighting heightened investor caution.

Persistent foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows continued to weigh heavily on market sentiment, with FIIs offloading over Rs 97,200 crore worth of shares in October so far. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) countered some of the selling, purchasing Rs 92,900 crore worth of shares, but it was insufficient to stem the downturn.

Most sectors were in the red, excluding defensives like FMCG, Pharma, and Healthcare. Key sectors facing heavy selling included Nifty Auto, Energy, Infrastructure, Media, Realty, PSU Bank, and Metal, with each seeing declines of two to three per cent.

Analyst VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, noted a shift in the long-term market trend, with the ‘buy on dips’ strategy losing effectiveness amid relentless FII selling and earnings downgrades. However, he pointed out that sustained inflows into mutual funds are helping DIIs absorb some of the selling, offering limited resilience, especially in large-cap financial stocks.

Top Gainers and Losers
Among top gainers, ITC, Sun Pharmaceutical, Axis Bank, Nestle, and HCL Tech managed to stay in the green, while key laggards included M&M, Trent, Shriram Finance, and Titan.