SENSEX falls 600 points: What triggered the sharp correction in markets?

The benchmark index Sensex was down by nearly 600 points on Wednesday and was trading lower by 0.7% at 79,780 at the time of writing. The index hit a fresh 52-week high of 80,481 on opening but faced selling pressure and tumbled over 1,000 points to hit the day's low of 79,435. The Nifty 50 was down by 0.6% at 24,279.5, while the Bank Nifty was trading lower by 0.9% at 52,109.

Here are key reasons that triggered fall in SENSEX

Auto heavyweights key draggers

The SENSEX declined as auto heavyweight Mahindra & Mahindra fell by nearly 7% after the company lowered the prices of top-end variants of the XUV700 SUV. Moreover, TCS was down by 2.1%, while Tata Steel was trading lower by 2.0%. Although Power Grid was up by 1.5% and Maruti saw gains of 1.1%, most of the index components were trading in the red.

Broader markets too witnessed selling

The market also saw broad-based selling, with small-cap and mid-cap stocks facing considerable pressure from sellers. From a sectoral point of view, all sectors were in the red, with BSE Metal being the top loser, down by 1.9%. Meanwhile, the BSE Auto index was down by 1.6%, while the BSE Commodities index fell by 1.3%.

Profit booking after sharp rally

The BSE Sensex has seen a steady uptrend in the past few sessions, making it likely that some profit-taking triggered the fall. The index has gained nearly 5.0% in the past month and has rallied over 11.0% in the last six months.

Caution ahead of Union Budget 2025 and earnings

The Union Budget will be tabled in the parliament on July 23rd which expected to be next big trigger for the market in addition to Q1FY25 earnings season. Ahead of these two major triggers market participants turned into cautious mode with some profit booking at higher levels.