SENSEX drops 1,069 points, NIFTY50 ends below 25,450 amid broad-based selloff

The Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply lower on Tuesday, February 24, as surging crude oil price in international markets and selloff in information technology (IT) shares dented investor sentiment towards equities. The SENSEX fell as much as 1,360 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 25,327 led by losses in Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services, Eternal and ICICI Bank.

Tuesday's selloff was so intense that investors' wealth worth ₹2.18 lakh crore was wiped out in a single session.

The SENSEX ended 1,069 points lower at 82,226 and NIFTY50 index fell 288 points to close at 25,425.

The benchmarks staged a gap down opening and extended losses taking cues from weak closing of the US markets. US stocks ended sharply lower on Monday after President Donald Trump ramped up his newest tariffs, while investors continued to punish companies that could be losers in the artificial-intelligence revolution.

Trump said on Saturday that he would place temporary 15% tariffs on other countries. That’s up from the 10% rate he announced Friday following a Supreme Court ruling that struck down his sweeping “reciprocal” taxes on imports from around the world, news agency AP reported.

Shares of information technology (IT) companies faced intense selling pressure after latest offering by AI firm Anthropic further raised concerns about the future of traditional IT companies. Anthropic launched new programming capabilities for its Claude Code product which could be used to modernize COBOL, a high-level, programming language developed in 1959 for business, finance and administrative systems. This development sent shares of IBM down 13% in US.

The development also had its ripple effect on its Indian peers. The measure of IT companies on the NSE dropped as much as 5.3%. The Nifty IT index has plunged over 20% over the past month (as of Tuesday, February 24 early trade level).

Global investment bank Jefferies said that AI may structurally change the IT business mix towards consulting/implementation while shrinking managed services. This would not only increase cyclicality but also require a change in talent/operating model – thus adding risks.

Meanwhile, rising crude oil prices in the international markets also added to the weak sentiment as surging crude price is a big negative for India's macro economic fundamentals because India imports 90% of its crude requirements.

Brent crude moved close to $72 per barrel, for first time in nearly seven months, as market participants assessed risks to supply amid rising tensions between US and Iran.

US wants Iran to give up its nuclear programme, but Iran has adamantly refused, and denied it is trying to develop an atomic weapon.

Nine of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the NIFTY IT index's 4.74% fall. NIFTY Realty, Financial Services, Media, Private bank and Bank indices also fell between 0.5% and 2.5%.

On the other hand, FMCG, metal, pharma and PSU bank shares witnessed buying interest.

Broader markets were also faced selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.32% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index fell 0.55%.

Tech Mahindra was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 6.2% to close at ₹1,352. HCL Tech, Eternal, TCS, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Trent and Bharti Airtel also declined between 2.7% and 6%.

On the flip side, NTPC, Coal India, JSW Steel, Hindalco, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC and Titan were among the top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,104 shares ended lower while 1,070 closed higher on the NSE.