SENSEX drops over 400 points, NIFTY50 below 25,450; mid, small-cap shares underperform

The Indian equity benchmarks extended losses on Tuesday, January 20, dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Infosys and Larsen & Toubro amid weak cues from other Asian markets. The SENSEX fell as much as 434 points to trade below 83,000 and NIFTY50 index dropped below 25,450.

Most of the Asian markets were trading lower on Tuesday as United States President Donald Trump's Greenland tariffs reignited worries of trade wars across the world.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1.03%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.44%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.42% and South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.2%.

As of 10:02 am, the SENSEX was down 345 points at 82,896 and NIFTY50 index declined 141 points to 25,444.

Selling pressure was visible across board as all the 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by NIFTY Realty index's 2% fall. NIFTY IT, Metal, Pharma, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, Financial Services and Bank indices also fell between 0.4%-1.25%.

Broader markets were underperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index dropped 1.3% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index plunged 1.24%. As many as 91 shares in the NIFTY Smallcap 100 index were trading lower while 95 shares in the NIFTY Midcap 100 index were declining.

Among the individual shares Ola Electric shares plunged 5% after its Chief Financial Officer Harish Abichandani resigned from the company with immediate effect and the company appointed Deepak Rastogi as the new CFO.

Eternal was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock dropped 2.68% to close at ₹273.80.

Bajaj Finance, Trent, Tech Mahindra, IndiGo, Bajaj Finserv, Jio Financial Services, Asian Paints and Coal India also fell between 1.5%-2.3%.

On the flipside, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Ultratech Cement and ICICI Bank were among the notable losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,432 shares were declining while 943 were advancing on the BSE.