The Indian stock market witnessed sharp losses on Monday, with the Sensex falling more than 900 points and the Nifty declining by around 280 points. The sell-off wiped out more than ₹6 lakh crore in investor wealth.
The 30-share BSE Sensex opened at 73,734, compared with Friday’s close of 73,895. It later fell more than 900 points to 72,981. The NSE Nifty also opened lower at 23,065, against the previous close of 23,140, before slipping below the 23,000 mark to 22,855.
Broad-based selling
Selling was seen across large-, mid- and small-cap stocks, with all 30 Sensex constituents trading in the red at one point.
HDFC Bank fell 1.90%, Kotak Bank 1.80%, SBI 1.60%, HUL 1.58%, Trent 1.56%, Bajaj Finance 1.40%, Reliance Industries 1.35% and ICICI Bank 1.34%. The BSE Bankex declined 1.60%, while the IT index fell 1.10%.
Global factors weigh on sentiment
The sharp decline was driven mainly by global factors. US-Iran peace talks remained deadlocked after US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal, adding pressure on crude oil prices.
Market sentiment was also hurt by continued selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who sold shares worth more than ₹3,600 crore on Friday.