Benchmark stock market indices ended in the red on Friday, dragged down by escalating tensions between India and Pakistan that rattled investor confidence.
The S&P BSE Sensex plunged 880.34 points to settle at 79,454.47, while the NSE Nifty50 declined 265.80 points to close at 24,008.00.
“Markets opened with a sharp gap down, largely due to rising geopolitical tensions along the India-Pakistan border, which negatively impacted investor sentiment,” said Sundar Kewat, Technical and Derivatives Analyst at Ashika Institutional Equity – Ashika Stock Broking.
Top Gainers and Losers on Sensex
At market close, Titan Company led the gains with a jump of 4.38%, followed by Tata Motors at 3.90% and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) at 3.77%. State Bank of India (SBI) rose 1.39%, while Asian Paints ended marginally higher at 0.02%.
On the losing side, ICICI Bank saw the steepest fall, dropping 3.16%. Power Grid Corporation declined 2.70%, UltraTech Cement fell 2.15%, Bajaj Finance slipped 2.02%, and HDFC Bank shed 1.93%.
Nifty Mid cap100 closed lower by 0.58% while Nifty Small cap100 fell sharply by 1.28%. India VIX jumped 4.34%, signalling rising market anxiety.
Among the sectoral indices, only three managed to finish in positive territory, Nifty PSU Bank led the gainers with a rise of 1.15%, followed by Nifty Private Bank which gained 1.28%, and Nifty Consumer Durables which added 0.57%.
The remaining sectoral indices closed in negative territory, with Nifty Realty suffering the steepest loss, plunging 2.86%. Nifty Financial Services declined 1.91%, followed by Nifty Oil & Gas, which fell 1.01%.
Other laggards included Nifty Pharma (-0.91%), Nifty Healthcare Index (-0.86%), Nifty FMCG (-0.70%), Nifty IT (-0.50%), Nifty Metal (-0.44%), Nifty Media (-0.38%), and Nifty Auto, which slipped marginally by 0.06%.
“Helping cap the downside was an overnight rebound on Wall Street, triggered by President Trump’s announcement of a trade agreement framework with the United Kingdom, which provided some global relief,” said Kewat.