Stock market crash today: BSE Sensex and Nifty50 were dragged down by banking stocks and Reliance Industries stock in trade on Monday. Benchmark equity indices experienced significant selling pressure in the afternoon session on Monday. The losses in bank stocks outweighed the gains seen in IT and pharma counters. The broader market indices, including smallcap and midcap indices, witnessed a decline of 2% each. The BSE Sensex initially fell over 600 points but later recouped some of the losses.
BSE Sensex closed the day at 71,072.49, down 523 points or 0.73%. Nifty50 ended the day at 21,616.05, down 166 points or 0.76%.
Prashant Tapse, the senior vice president of research at Mehta Equities, stated that investor caution prevails following the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy commentary last week and concerns about the delay in US rate cuts.
The RBI’s policy decision on Thursday dashed hopes of early rate cuts. It projected elevated inflation for fiscal 2025.
According to V K Vijayakumar, the Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the S&P 500 closing above 5000 for the first time is supportive for the bulls. However, the bears are likely to be influenced by the rising US bond yields, which generally triggers significant selling from FIIs. The tug of war between the bulls and the bears is expected to continue.
Vijayakumar also mentioned that besides positive economic cues, sustained flows to the market through mutual funds are a major factor supporting the market. This can lead to buying on dips, and the high market valuations are likely to be sustained for some time.
Deven Mehata, a Research Analyst at Choice Broking, highlighted that Nifty can find support at 21,700 followed by 21,650 and 21,600. On the higher side, 21,950 can act as an immediate resistance, followed by 22,000 and 22,050.
In global markets, most Asian markets, including Hong Kong and South Korea, were closed on Monday. Chinese markets will remain shut for the week.
Wall Street equities advanced on Friday, led by chipmaker Nvidia, which reached a record high after Reuters reported it was building a new business unit.
Foreign institutional investors bought Indian shares worth Rs 142 crore on a net basis on Friday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors sold a net of Rs 422 crore of shares.
