Indian equities ended the Thursday session in negative territory, with a brutal selloff in IT stocks triggering a broad market decline. The benchmark Sensex plunged 558.72 points (0.66%) to close at 83,674.92, and the Nifty retreated 146.65 points (0.57%) to 25,807.20.
The Nifty IT index was the epicenter of the rout, crashing 5.51%. Standouts in the downside included Coforge (-6.50%), Oracle Financial Services Software (-6.28%), Tech Mahindra (-5.98%), Infosys (-5.84%), LTI Mindtree (-5.51%), and TCS (-5.49%).
Weakness spread to multiple sectors: Realty down 1.45%, Media 1.31%, Oil & Gas 1.19%, Services 0.68%, Energy 0.56%, and FMCG 0.51%.
Bright spots emerged in Nifty India Defence (+0.73%), Consumer Durables (+0.40%), and Financial Services (+0.38%).
Midcaps and smallcaps couldn’t escape the tide, with Nifty Midcap 100 declining 0.47% to 60,470.85 and Nifty Smallcap 100 falling 0.64% to 17,344.10.
Sensex gainers featured Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Trent, BEL, SBI, Titan, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, L&T, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Steel. The loser list was dominated by IT names like Tech Mahindra, Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech, alongside M&M, HUL, Eternal, HDFC Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
According to Rupak De of LKP Securities, the market started soft and stayed subdued, with Nifty oscillating between 25,750 and 25,850.
He highlighted that even after the sharp drop, the index remains above the 20 DMA. Upside resistance looms at 26,000, with support at 25,750-25,500.
This session’s IT carnage reflects sector-specific headwinds, potentially signaling caution for tech-exposed portfolios as global tech sentiment wavers.