Indian equity benchmarks deepened their losses in afternoon trading on Tuesday, with the Sensex falling 401.95 points to 80,749.32 and the Nifty declining 157.20 points to 24,623.90 at 12:30 pm, dragged by widespread selling pressure across sectors.
The market breadth remained significantly negative, with 3,209 stocks declining, versus 643 advances on the BSE. Selling pressure was more pronounced in the broader market, with 407 stocks hitting their lower circuit limits compared to 181 stocks touching their upper circuits.
The Nifty Next 50 index witnessed a sharp decline of 1.85 per cent to 71,928.70, while the Nifty Midcap Select index fell 0.96 per cent to 12,572.80. Banking stocks also faced pressure, with the Nifty Bank index dropping 0.83 per cent to 51,533.60.
ICICI Bank emerged the top gainer among Nifty stocks, rising 1.24 per cent, followed by Nestle India at 0.88 per cent, and UltraTech Cement at 0.65 per cent. Hindustan Unilever and ITC added 0.44 per cent and 0.41 per cent, respectively.
On the losing side, Adani Enterprises led the decline with a 2.78 per cent fall, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra dropping 2.54 per cent. Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) declined 2.44 per cent, while State Bank of India and Tata Motors fell 2.14 per cent and 2.12 per cent, respectively.
The market witnessed 155 stocks hitting 52-week highs, while 117 stocks touched their 52-week lows. Financial services stocks showed relative resilience, with the Nifty Financial Services index declining 0.60 per cent to 23,811.35.
The market weakness follows continued selling by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), who offloaded ₹2,261 crore worth of Indian equities on October 21, though domestic institutional investors (DIIs) provided some support with purchases worth ₹3,225 crore.
Trading volumes remained active with 3,952 stocks being traded on the BSE. Market participants continue to monitor US Treasury yields, which reached 4.18 per cent, and await quarterly results from major companies, including Bajaj Finance, Zomato, and ICICI Prudential.