Market Wrap: Bears Tighten Hold on Dalal Street as Sensex Tumbles 1,236 Points; Nifty Settles at 25,454; VIX Surges 10%

Indian frontline indices came under intense selling pressure on Thursday, posting their steepest slide in more than a fortnight as geopolitical tensions dampened investor confidence. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex finished at 82,498.14, plunging 1,236.11 points or 1.48%, while the NSE Nifty50 settled at 25,454.35, down 365.00 points or 1.41%. The benchmarks recorded their sharpest single-day drop since February 1 this year. The sharp downturn was driven by rising crude oil prices, mounting US–Iran tensions, and profit-booking in heavyweight banking and FMCG counters. All 30 constituents of the Sensex ended in negative territory. Shares of

, , t, , and were among the worst performers, declining up to 3.2%. In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices also closed lower, shedding 1.59% and 1.27%, respectively. On the sectoral front, Nifty Realty, Nifty Media, and Nifty Auto emerged as the biggest drags, each slipping around 2%. They were followed by Nifty FMCG and both private and PSU banking indices, which declined over 1%. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded IT stocks worth ₹10,956 crore during the first half of February. Despite an overall inflow of ₹29,709 crore into Dalal Street during the same period, the IT sector witnessed the most pronounced selling pressure. Investment in securities market are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing.