Market Wrap, January 27: DeepSeek's launch unnerves D-Street further; SENSEX, NIFTY50 tumble over 1%, 494 stocks hit 52-week low

China's DeepSeek rolled out a free AI assistant that it says uses lower-cost chips and fewer data, seemingly challenging a widespread bet in markets that AI will drive demand along a supply chain from chipmakers to data centres.

Europe's technology sector led the pan-European STOXX 600 index lower, down 0.7%, while the blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 dropped 1.4% in early European trading.

The STOXX Europe 600 technology index fell as much as 4.6%, its biggest one-day drop since mid-October.

Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite in the US tumbled over 3.1% and S&P 500 futures sank 2%.

Besides, subdued Q3 earnings, decelerating economic growth, exodus of foreign funds, and nervousness ahead of the Union Budget, which is slated to be presented on Saturday, February 1, kept investors extremely cautious.

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 75,366.17, down 824.29 points, or 1.08%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 22,817.90, down 274.30 points, or 1.19%.

Market Statistics

As many as 4,234 stocks traded on the BSE on Monday. Out of this, 3,522 declined and only 593 stocks gained while 119 scrips remained unchanged.

A total of 93 stocks hit their 52-week highs while 494 stocks touched their one-year lows.

Besides, 10 stocks hit their upper circuit limits and five touched their lower circuit bands.

Investors lost ₹9.28 lakh crore in the trade today as the m-cap of BSE-listed companies slipped from ₹419.51 lakh crore to ₹410.23 lakh crore.

Top gainers and losers

As many as 42 stocks on the NIFTY50 index slipped in the red, while the remaining eight in the green.

Broader Market

The BSE MidCap index ended at 41,571.60, down 1,144.03 points, or 2.68%, while the BSE SmallCap index settled 1,761.14 points, or 3.51% lower at 48,346.37 levels.

With today's fall, the small-cap index is now over 16% down from its 52-week high of 57,827.69, touched on December 12, 2024.

Sector Watch

All sectoral indices ended in the red, with the telecom and technology stocks taking the biggest hit.

The BSE Information Technology index ended at 41,301.30, down 1,412.31 points, or 3.31%, while the BSE Telecommunication index ended at 2,702.87, down 107.66 points, or 3.83%.