Sensex Falls Over 600 Points, Nifty Slips Below 24,300

Dalal Street remained firmly bearish on Wednesday afternoon, with selling pressure in heavyweight IT and Tata Group stocks keeping the benchmarks under pressure. Around 12:50 PM IST, the Sensex was at 77,543.42, down 610.83 points or 0.78 per cent, while the Nifty 50 slipped 202.50 points or 0.83 per cent to 24,269.20.

The broader market showed a more mixed picture. Nifty Bank traded at 57,503.40, up 57.15 points or 0.10 per cent, showing relative strength despite weakness in the headline indices. The Nifty Midcap 100 was at 63,627.85, down 216 points or 0.34 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 recovered to around 19,857.15, up 43.20 points or 0.22 per cent.

Sectorally, Nifty PSU Bank was the standout performer, rising 1.69 per cent, helped by buying interest across select public sector lenders. Metals also displayed relative strength. On the other side, Nifty IT dropped 2.10 per cent, making it the biggest drag as TCS came under sharp selling pressure. Realty was down about 0.9 per cent, while FMCG also traded lower by around 0.8 per cent during the session.

Stock-specific action remained intense. TCS fell more than 5 per cent to around Rs 2,315 after N Chandrasekaran said he would not seek another term as Tata Sons chairman after his current tenure ends in February 2027, triggering uncertainty around the group’s leadership transition. TD Power Systems jumped around 16 per cent after its Q1 profit rose 72 per cent year-on-year to Rs 86 crore. Finolex Cables gained around 10 per cent following strong quarterly numbers, with Q1 revenue crossing Rs 2,000 crore. Meanwhile, Godrej Consumer Products dropped around 10 per cent after the unexpected exit of CEO Sudhir Sitapati.

Institutional flow data for August 12 will be available only after the market closes. In the latest available provisional cash-market data for August 11, FIIs were net buyers of Rs 258.55 crore, while DIIs purchased a net Rs 24.77 crore.

Global cues were also cautious. Overnight, the Dow declined 0.34 per cent, S&P 500 fell 0.32 per cent and Nasdaq slipped 0.60 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Topix gained around 0.7 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell about 1.2 per cent. Brent crude hovered near USD 89.5 per barrel, keeping oil-importing economies such as India on alert, while the Dollar Index remained broadly flat near 99.87.

For the rest of the session, 24,200 is emerging as the next important support for Nifty, while 24,600 to 24,700 remains an important resistance zone on any recovery. Investors will also track US July CPI data later today, crude oil movements and developments around Tata Sons' leadership transition.

The market remains event-driven, making stock selection and risk awareness particularly important rather than reacting to short-term index swings.

Disclaimer: The article is for informational purposes only and not investment advice.