Market Wrap, February 24: SENSEX, NIFTY50 crash over 1% on weak global cues; IT stocks biggest laggards

The equity benchmark indices continued to bleed for the fifth consecutive session on Monday, February 24, amid heavy selling in IT firms, and investors also remained worried about weak global cues. Both the indices tumbled over 1% at close.

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 74,454.41, tanking 856.65 points, or 1.14%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 22,553.35, declining 242.55 points, or 1.06%.

The market breadth was in favour of declines, as 2,108 stocks declined on NSE against only 767 stocks that gained. Similarly, 20 stocks made a new 52-week high, and 214 made a 52-week low.

This led to a sharp downfall in IT stocks after reports suggested that business activity and consumer sentiment are deteriorating in the US, a key market for Indian IT companies.

Indian IT companies earn a significant amount of revenue from the US, and fears of an economic downturn in the US directly affect the revenue of IT companies. The latest economic data signalled a sharp slowdown, raising fears of reduced client spending on IT services.

The new trade tariffs proposed by US President Donald Trump on Chinese imports are adding to the uncertainty about spending in the IT sector.

Meanwhile, Nasssom's president Rajesh Nambiar said United States, the largest market for the $282 billion Indian IT sector, is a "wild card" for the industry. Nambiar said the tariff threats by the US may turn out to be the biggest headwind for the sector.

"Broadly, if you were to look at the headwinds, the biggest unknown there would be the tariffs and the impact of what happens in the US market," Nambiar said.

Foreign investors have pulled out over ₹23,710 crore from the Indian equity markets so far this month, pushing total outflows past ₹1 trillion in 2025 amid rising global trade tensions.

According to the data with the depositories, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth ₹23,710 crore from Indian equities so far this month (till February 21). This came following a net outflow of ₹78,027 crore in January. With these, the total outflow by FPIs has reached ₹1,01,737 crore in 2025 so far, data with the depositories showed.

Globally, Asian shares were mixed on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged 0.1% higher to 23,494.21 and the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.2% to 3,373.03. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1% to 8,308.20. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.4% to 2,645.27, while the Taiex in Taiwan fell 0.7%. India's Sensex declined 1%.

On Friday, the S&P 500 sank 1.7% for its worst day in two months, closing at 6,013.13, after several weaker-than-expected reports on the US economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 748 points, or 1.7%, to 43,428.02, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.2% to 19,524.01.

The m-cap of BSE-listed companies dropped by ₹4.35 lakh crore from ₹402.20 lakh crore on Friday, February 21, to ₹397.85 lakh crore.

As many as 2,971 stocks traded on the NSE on Monday. Out of this, 2,097 declined and only 775 stocks advanced while 99 scrips remained unchanged.

A total of 20 stocks hit their 52-week highs while 214 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 82 stocks hit their upper circuit limits and 177 touched their lower circuit bands on Monday.

The broader market also remained under pressure with NIFTY Midcap 100 index ending at 50,013.10, falling 473.10 points, or 0.94%, while the Nifty SmallCap 100 index settled at 15,477.30 levels, declining 159.60 points, or 1.02%.

Except for Nifty Auto (0.22%) and Nifty Pharma (0.02%), all the other sectoral indices on NIFTY50 ended lower. Nifty IT (-2.71%), Nifty Metal (-2.17%), Nifty Midsmall IT & Telecom (-1.41%), Nifty Financial Services Ex-Bank (-1.23%) and Nifty Oil and Gas (-1.10%) were the top losers among sectors.   

As many as 12 stocks on the NIFTY50 index traded positive, while the remaining 38 closed in red. The top five gainers on the index were Mahindra and Mahindra, rising as much as 1.54%.

On the flip side, the top five losers were Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Bharti Airtel, declining as much as 3.7% on the 50-share index.