SENSEX, NIFTY50 indices post worst day in over a month on selloff in IT stocks

The Indian equity benchmarks posted their worst single-day performance since March 2 on Friday, April 24, as investor sentiment was dented amid surging crude oil prices, weak rupee against the US dollar and subdued quarterly earnings posted by the information technology heavyweight Infosys.

The SENSEX fell as much as 1,260 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 23,814 dragged down by losses in Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Reliance Industries, HCL Technologies and Sun Pharma.

The SENSEX ended 983 points lower at 76,681 and NIFTY50 index dropped 275 points to close at 23,898.

Most of the Asian markets ended lower after crude oil prices remained above $105 per barrel in international markets despite US President Donald Trump saying that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House on Thursday.

Back home, Infosys was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 7% to close at ₹1,155 and it was the biggest drag on the SENSEX after the IT services major on Thursday reported a 20.8% rise in consolidated net profit to ₹8,501 crore in the January-March quarter and guided for 1.5 to 3.5% revenue growth for FY27, pinning its optimism on momentum in financial services, utilities, and AI services.

The top management spoke of the calendar year starting on a strong note but pointed out that there was a "change in economic environment" amid the West Asia conflict, though things appear to be stabilising now.

Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma, SBI Life, HDFC Life, Hindustan Unilever and ICICI Bank also fell between 1.65% and 4.8%.

On the flip side, Coal India, Trent, Hindalco, Nestle India, Shriram Finance, State Bank of India, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Finance and Grasim Industries were notable gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

Selling pressure was broad-based as all the major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the NIFTY IT index's 5.3% fall. NIFTY Pharma, Realty, Healthcare, Auto and Financial Services indices also declined between 0.6% and 1.8%.

Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index fell 1% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declined 0.9%.

Among the individual shares, UTI AMC shares fell 11% after it posted a 72.81% decline in its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) to ₹33.72 crore in the latest March quarter. The company had reported a net profit of ₹124.02 crore a year back.

Its consolidated revenue from operations remained flat at ₹317.04 crore in Q4 FY26, up 0.05% from ₹316.88 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

Shares of Himadri Speciality Chemical surged as much 13% to hit an intraday high of ₹605 after its net profit in March quarter jumped 29% to ₹201 crore.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,429 shares ended lower while 863 closed higher on the NSE.