Market Wrap, July 8: SENSEX, NIFTY50 tumble over 2%; VIX spikes 26%, ₹9L cr wiped off NSE-listed firms' mcap

The Indian stock market crashed over 2% on Wednesday, July 8, after the equity benchmark indices came under pressure in the last trading hour after US President Donald Trump said that a ceasefire with Iran was “over as far as I'm concerned.”

During the intraday session, the SENSEX and NIFTY50 touched intraday lows of 76,259.03 and 23,805.20 levels, respectively.

Following Trump’s comments, the volatility gauge, India VIX, surged 30% to an intraday high mark of the 15.15 level. The rise in VIX, or fear gauge, indicates that the investors expect higher market volatility and increased uncertainty in the near term.

The banking stocks came under heavy selling pressure, with the NIFTY Bank index declining nearly 3%, led by losses in Union Bank of India, IDFC First Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, which emerged as the top laggards. At the end of the session, the index closed 2.51% lower at 56,742.60 level.

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth ₹393.19 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold equities worth ₹ 383.43 crore on a net basis.

Here are the key developments of Wednesday's session that you need to know

As many as 3,411 stocks traded on the NSE on Wednesday. Out of these, 699 advanced and 2,633 stocks declined, while 79 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of declines.

A total of 77 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 56 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 76 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 153 touched their lower circuit bands on Wednesday.

The market capitalisation of NSE-listed firms declined by ₹8.98 lakh crore to ₹471.22 lakh crore at the close of the session. Meanwhile, the market cap of BSE-listed companies fell by ₹10.88 lakh crore from the previous session to ₹471.43 lakh crore on Wednesday.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 14.68 levels, soaring 26.03%.

The midcap and smallcap stocks also came under pressure, with the NIFTY Smallcap index underperforming the broader market, declining 2.24% to close at 18,783.30. Meanwhile, the NIFTY Midcap 100 slipped 1.55% to settle at 61,322.75.

All sectoral indices ended in the red, with NIFTY PSU Bank emerging as the worst performer, declining 2.72%. NIFTY Private Bank fell 2.52%, followed by NIFTY FMCG (-2.49%) and NIFTY Media (-2.31%), while NIFTY Oil & Gas and NIFTY Auto also dropped 2.23% each.

On the NIFTY50 index, 46 stocks closed in red, while only 4 gained by the end of the session.

IndiGo operator firm InterGlobe Aviation was the most losing stock, falling 5.1%, followed by Jio Financial Services (-5.02%), Shriram Finance (-4.86%), Maruti Suzuki (-3.88%) and Hindustan Unilever (-3.36%).

On the flip side, ONGC (1.15%), Bajaj Auto (0.65%), Hindalco Industries (0.42%) and Coal India (0.4%) were the only gainers on the 50-share index.

Most of the Asian shares ended lower weighed down by a selloff in artificial intelligence related shares as market participants turned cautious about their expensive valuations.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1.47%, China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.49% while South Korea's KOSPI dropped 5.65%.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq closed sharply lower on Tuesday, amid losses in ‌Micron Technology and other chipmakers due to mounting doubts about the sustainability of AI-driven rally.

The S&P 500 fell 0.45% to end at 7,503.85 points, the Nasdaq slipped 1.16% to close at 25,818.69 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average settled 0.25% lower at 52,925.15 points.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 95.15 against the US dollar and traded in the range of 94.98-95.61 during the day. It eventually settled at 95.55 (provisional), down 59 paise from its previous close. On Tuesday, the rupee appreciated 47 paise to close at 94.96 against the US dollar.