Sensex tumbles over 900 pts, Nifty sinks below 24,600; IT stocks drag

Business Standard

22-05-2025

The headline equity benchmarks traded with major losses in early afternoon trade amid global risk aversion. A spike in U.S. Treasury yields, Moodys downgrade of the U.S. credit outlook, weak bond demand, and a technical correction following the recent rally triggered broad-based selling in Indian equities. IT shares declined after advancing in previous trading session.
The Nifty traded below the 24,600 level. The market could be volatile due to the weekly expiry of the Nifty F&O series today.
At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tanked 907.92 points or 1.10% to 80,709.54. The Nifty 50 index tumbled 253.25 points or 1.02% to 24,559.75.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.46% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.08%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,621 shares rose and 2,116 shares fell. A total of 191 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
India's private sector activity witnessed a notable acceleration in May, as indicated by the HSBC Flash India Composite Output Index, which rose to 61.2 from 59.7 in April. The seasonally adjusted indextracking month-on-month changes in output across both manufacturing and servicessignaled a sharp rate of expansion.
This uptick was largely driven by stronger performance in the services sector. Robust inflows of new business, both domestic and international, fueled faster growth in business activity and employment.
Meanwhile, the HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI remained largely stable, edging up slightly to 58.3 in May from 58.2 in April. The reading continued to reflect a strong improvement in the overall health of the manufacturing sector.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, added 2.21% to 17.77. The Nifty 29 May 2025 futures were trading at 24,625, at a premium of 65.25 point as compared with the spot at 24,559.75.
The Nifty option chain for the 29 May 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 81.9 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 73.7 lakh contracts was seen at 24,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty IT index fell 1.38% to 37,023.60. The index rose 0.69% in the previous trading session.
Tech Mahindra (down 1.71%), Persistent Systems (down 1.6%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 1.59%), Wipro (down 1.55%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.35%), HCL Technologies (down 1.22%), Infosys (down 0.98%), Mphasis (down 0.81%), Coforge (down 0.28%) down.
Stocks in Spotlight:
H.G. Infra engineering dropped 6.33% after the company reported 22.65% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 146.98 crore in Q4 FY25 as against Rs 190.03 crore posted in Q4 FY24. Revenue from operations fell 20.33% YoY to Rs 1,360.89 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2025.
Colgate-Palmolive (India) tanked 4.55% after the companys standalone net profit declined 6.53% to Rs 355 crore in Q4 FY25 as against Rs 379.82 crore posted in Q4 FY24. Revenue from operations fell 1.93% year on year (YoY) to Rs 1,452 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2025.
VRL Logistics jumped 7.03% after the company's net profit surged 244.71% to Rs 74.25 crore in Q4 FY25, compared with Rs 21.54 crore posted in Q4 FY24. Revenue from operations rose 5.84% to Rs 809.03 crore, compared to Rs 764.40 crore in Q4 FY24.
Astral added 4.49% after its standalone net profit jumped 3.76% to Rs 190 crore on 3.64% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 1,542.3 in Q4 FY25 over Q4 FY24.