Sensex tumbles 876 points, Nifty 50 slips 1.1% as private banks drag Indian markets lower

Indian equity benchmarks snapped a two-day winning streak on Monday, dragged lower by heavy selling in private banking stocks and elevated crude oil prices. The BSE Sensex fell 876.38 points, or 1.2%, to close at 73,852.90, while the NSE Nifty 50 declined 257.20 points, or 1.1%, to end at 22,888.95, The Economic Times reported. The Deccan Herald corroborated both closes and said the Sensex crashed as much as 1,020.73 points intraday to 73,708.54.

Private-sector lenders led the decline after their September-quarter earnings failed to enthuse investors. The Nifty Private Bank index shed 1.8%, with Axis Bank the biggest Nifty loser, falling 4.19%, while HDFC Bank declined 2.3% and ICICI Bank 1.1%. Bucking the weak trend, the Nifty PSU Bank index gained 2.5% (ET).

“Today’s decline reflects profit-booking following the previous week’s recovery. Investors remain cautious because of oil prices and the quarterly earnings announcements,” said Gaurav Garg, head of research at brokerage Lemonn, noting both indices had risen around 2.8% last week (ET).

Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, said private banks remained under pressure following quarterly earnings and concerns over margin trends, while PSU banks bucked the broader weakness on expectations of relatively resilient margins and asset quality, according to the Times of India.

Brent crude futures fell 1.5% to $108.18 following Donald Trump’s executive order on Friday waiving sanctions on Russian energy under the Graham Act, though prices remained too high for comfort (ET). The sell-off provisionally erased nearly Rs 4.70 lakh crore from the combined market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies (ToI). The VIX climbed 4.5% to 14.7, and Indian financial markets will be closed on Tuesday for Dussehra (ET).