SENSEX plunges 824 pts to 7-month low as IT, oil, gas shares tank

Benchmark SENSEX tanked 824 points to settle at a fresh seven-month low on Monday following heavy selling in IT and oil & gas shares amid weak global trends.

The 30-share BSE barometer plunged by 824.29 points or 1.08% to close at 75,366.17 with 23 of its constituents ending lower and seven with gains. During the day the index moved between a high of 75,925.72 and a low of 75,267.59.

The broader 50-share NIFTY dropped by 263.05 points or 1.14% to close at 22,829.15, tanking below the 23,000-level for the first time since June 6, 2024.

IT, telecom, utilities, power, consumer durables, oil and gas and healthcare sector shares were major losers as investor sentiment was hit by uncertainty over US trade policy.

US President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on Colombia after the latter blocked planes carrying deported migrants. The US reversed the decision after Colombia, a close US ally, agreed to take back deported migrants.

Among Sensex shares, HCL tech fell the most by 4.49% followed by Zomato, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid and Tata Motors.

Shares of Infosys, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel also declined, dragging the index to more than seven-month lows.

ICICI Bank, however, bucked the trend and rose 1.39% following upbeat third-quarter results. Hindustan Unilever, M&M, SBI and L&T were among the other gainers.

The BSE SmallCap gauge declined 3.51% and Midcap index slumped 2.68%.

Among the sectoral indices, telecommunication plummeted the most by 3.83% and Focuses IT by 3.34%. IT (3.31 per cent), Teck (3.04%), Metal (2.86%), Healthcare (2.73%), Industrials (2.63%), Oil & Gas and Commdities (2.42% each) and Utilities (2.41%) also declined.

In the broader market, LT Foods shares fell more than 4% to settle at ₹379.85 apiece on BSE after the company posted disappointing Q3 earnings, marked by a decline in net profit and weak operational performance.

IDFC First Bank shares plunged 8.85% to close at ₹56.76 per piece. During the day, the stock tanked 9.33% to hit a 52-week low of ₹56.46 per share.

CDSL shares slumped more than 10% to finish at ₹1,342.90 apiece on the NSE after the company reported its lower-than-expected Q3 earnings performance.

Overall market breadth was negative as 3,522 stocks declined while 593 advanced and 119 remained unchanged on the BSE. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies slumped by ₹9,28,229.09 crore to ₹4,10,23,624.90 or ($4.75 trillion).

In Asian markets, Shanghai and Tokyo closed lower due to weak manufacturing data. European markets also traded lower in early sessions with Germany's DAX dropping 1.1%, the CAC 40 in Paris falling 0.8% and Britain's FTSE 100 by 0.3%. US stocks in futures trade also declined.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹2,758.49 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude edged up 0.22% to $78.67 a barrel.