Festive rally loses steam as concerns over bank earnings and IT selling hit equities
Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices ended sharply lower on Monday after a two-day rally, with the Sensex tumbling 876.37 points and the Nifty dropping to 22,888.95, dragged by private lenders HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, and weak global trends.
The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 876.37 points, or 1.17 per cent, to settle at 73,852.90. During the day, it crashed 1,020.73 points, or 1.36 per cent, to 73,708.54. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 257.20 points, or 1.11 per cent, to end at 22,888.95.
From the 30 Sensex firms, Axis Bank declined 3.85 per cent despite the private sector lender reporting a 39.4 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 7,704.67 crore in the second quarter of FY 2026-27, supported by higher core income and improvement in asset quality.
UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Trent, NTPC and HDFC Bank were also among the major laggards. Shares of HDFC Bank declined over 2 per cent after its September quarter earnings failed to cheer investors. Adani Ports, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, InterGlobe Aviation and Maruti Suzuki India were the gainers. “Indian equities came under renewed selling pressure, reversing the recent recovery as weak global cues and selling in private banks and IT stocks weighed on investor sentiment. Private banks remained under pressure following quarterly earnings and concerns over margin trends. In contrast, PSU banks bucked the broader weakness, supported by expectations of relatively resilient margins and asset quality,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said. The BSE MidCap Select index dropped 0.97 per cent and the SmallCap Select index was down 0.53 per cent. Among BSE sectoral indices, Housing Finance tanked 2.42 per cent, FMCG 1.51 per cent, IT 1.38 per cent, Insurance 1.33 per cent, Commodities 1.28 per cent, Top 10 Banks 1.23 per cent and Hospitals 1.22 per cent.
PSU Bank jumped 2.60 per cent, MidSmall Private Banks Quality Tilt 1.08 per cent and MidSmall Private Banks 0.15 per cent.
“Indian equities gave up Friday’s recovery as selling in index-heavy private banks, weak global technology cues and a break below the Nifty’s 23,000 mark accelerated the decline. The principal domestic trigger was the market’s response to weekend bank earnings.
“Despite headline profit growth, investors focused on margin pressure, higher operating costs and weaker treasury income, leading to selling in HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and other private lenders. IT also declined after its recent sharp rally as weakness in US technology and semiconductor stocks encouraged traders to book profits,” Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a Research Analyst firm, said.