Market Wrap, May 8: NIFTY falls below 24,300 on Indo-Pak tensions, SENSEX slips 412 pts; India VIX rises over 10%, broader market underperforms

The Indian stock market settled with losses on Thursday, May 8, as investors remain worried on the back of ongoing geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan.

The equity benchmark indices were mostly trading flat till the Indian government said that they have targeted the air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan under Operation Sindoor. Due to India's action, the air defence system at Lahore has been neutralised, the government said.

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 80,334.81, declining 411.97 points, or 0.51%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 24,273.80, falling 140.60 points, or 0.58%.

The broader market settled with losses, with the Nifty Midcap 100 slipping nearly 2% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 gauge falling 1.5%.

However, the volatility index jumped amid uncertainties while market breadth worsened at the end of the session. Most of the sectors also ended with losses.

On Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,585.86 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

Global shares gained moderately on Thursday, with most shares ending higher following the Federal Reserve’s widely expected interest rate decision.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held the key interest rates unchanged between 4.25% and 4.5%, noting that the economic activity is expanding at a solid pace, but inflation remains somewhat elevated.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) led by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that "uncertainty" in relation to the "economic outlook has increased further".

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.4% to settle at 36,928.63. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 8,191.70.

South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2% to 2,579.48. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 0.4% to 22,775.92, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.3% to 3,352.00.

The US markets closed positive on Wednesday in a choppy trading session after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged amid economic uncertainties.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 284.97 points, or 0.70%, to 41,113.97, the S&P 500 advanced 24.37 points, or 0.43%, to 5,631.28, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 48.50 points, or 0.27%, to the 17,738.16 level.

As many as 2,935 stocks traded on the NSE on Thursday. Out of this, 2,027 declined, and only 820 stocks advanced, while 88 scripts remained unchanged.

A total of 26 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 52 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 73 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 61 touched their lower circuit bands on Thursday.

NSE-listed firms lost ₹4.68 lakh crore in market capitalisation as it stood at ₹416.69 lakh crore at the end of the session.

The volatility index India VIX soared 10.21% to 21.01 levels.

The broader market saw steep cuts as Nifty Midcap 100 tanked 1.95% to the 53,229.30 level, while Nifty Smallcap 100 shredded 1.43% to the 16,183.75 mark.

Except for Nifty IT (0.23%) and Nifty Media (0.20%), all the other sectoral gauges ended in red. Nifty Realty was the biggest loser, falling 2.47%, followed by Nifty Metal (-2.09%), Nifty Auto (-1.9%), Nifty Pharma (-1.62%) and Nifty PSU Bank (-1.35%).

As many as 45 stocks declined on the NIFTY50 index, and only 5 ended with gains.

Shriram Finance (-4.48%), Eternal (-4.18%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-3.55%), Adani Enterprises (-3.53%) and Hindalco (-3.19%) were the biggest losers on the 50-share index.

Axis Bank (0.75%), HCL Technologies (0.56%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (0.54%), Titan (0.18%) and Tata Motors (0.01%) were the only gainers on the index.