SENSEX, NIFTY fall for a fourth straight session; Market cap worth ₹17.81 lakh crore wiped out; Here is why

The Indian equity benchmarks crashed on Thursday, October 1, and closed lower for a fourth straight session tracking a surge in bond yields in the United States, relentless selling by the foreign institutional investors and rising crude oil in global markets.

The SENSEX fell as much as 1,187 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 22,217 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Bharti Airtel.

The SENSEX dropped 571 points to close at 71,910 and NIFTY50 index fell 198 points to close at 22,422.

In the last four sessions, SENSEX has crashed 1,986 points or 2.7% and NIFTY50 has tumbled 3.1% wiping out investors' wealth worth ₹17.81 lakh crore, data from BSE showed.

Yield on the US bond surged to 20-year high of 5.34% its ‌highest level in 24 years on Thursday, as bonds selloff gathered pace.

The surge in yields makes US government bonds more attractive to global investors, prompting a shift in funds away from emerging markets such as India towards relatively safer US assets.

Relentless selling by foreign institutional investors also added to the pain. FIIs sold shares worth ₹10,148.41 crore on Wednesday and for the month of September they turned net sellers to the tune of ₹35,861 crore.

Brent crude futures for delivery in December advanced 2.4% to $100.38 per barrel.

Back home, sentiment was also shaken after Finance Ministry said that India, like other developing nations, faces a stiff challenge in attracting capital flows as near-term uncertainties over US trade relations, crude price spikes, and the lack of an India angle in global AI developments weigh on its investment attractiveness.

13 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the NIFTY Auto index's 3.5% fall. Auto stocks came under selling pressure after September sales numbers posted by auto companies failed to enthuse investors.

NIFTY FMCG, Media, Metal, Realty, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas, and PSU Bank indices also fell between 1% and 2.35%.

On the other hand, select private banks and IT shares witnessed buying interest.

Broader markets also faced selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 1% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index fell 1%.

Bajaj Auto was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 7.62% to close at ₹10,045 after its two-wheeler sales declined 12% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to 2,39,771 units in September 2026, in comparison to 2,73,188 units in the same period last year.

While the domestic sales for two-wheelers declined in the period under review, the company’s export volumes gained 34% to 2,11,723 units, from 1,57,665 units, supporting the overall total sales increase.

Maruti Suzuki dropped 5% after its sales increased 24.43% to 2,36,013 units in September 2026, from 1,89,665 units in the same period a year earlier.

The data further showed that Maruti Suzuki’s total sales in the period included domestic sales of 185,252 units, sales to other OEMs of 6,542 units and exports of 44,219 units.

Shriram Finance, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Grasim, Eicher Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Adani Enterprises and ITC also fell between 2.6% and 3.8%.

On the flip side, Infosys, HDFC Life, HDFC Bank, SBI Life, Max Healthcare, TCS, HCL Tech and Tata Consumer Products were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,574 shares ended lower while 1,024 closed higher on the NSE.