Sensex down 760 points, Nifty nears 22,000 level as market volatility kicks in

Highly volatile markets: Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share benchmark index lost 746 points during mid-day trading on Thursday to fall below 72,750 as industry heavyweights such as Larsen & Toubro, Coal India, Divi’s Lab, and ITC dragged the market down. India VIX, the NSE index for short-term volatility in Indian markets, shot up by 4.84 per cent, indicating major uncertainty among investors. 

NSE’s Nifty 50 fell more than 242 points or 1.09 per cent to near the mark of 22,000. Amid strong selling pressure in midcap and smallcap stocks, auto industry majors including Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Bajaj Auto are resisting the bearish market sentiment, taking the lead as top gainers for the NSE’s benchmark index. 

Apart from the abovementioned auto stocks, Infosys, HCLTech, and Titan were among the only seven gainers for the day on Nifty 50. 

Larsen & Toubro fell as much as 5.92 per cent to hit an intraday low of Rs 3,290 apiece after the company announced that the national elections and global geopolitical tensions will hurt its order inflow and revenue in fiscal year 2025. The industrial construction heavyweight announced its January-March quarter results for fiscal 2023-24 (Q4FY24) on Wednesday, May 8. L&T reported a rise of 10.3 per cent in net profit at Rs 4,396 crore, compared to Rs 3,987 crore in the corresponding period last year. 

Driven by the positive momentum of the Q4 earnings, Hero Motocorp shares climbed for the second consecutive session to hit an intraday high of Rs 4,919. The leading two-wheeler manufacturer reported a standalone net profit of Rs 1,016.05 crore for the March quarter, a notable rise of more than 18 per cent compared to the Rs 858.93 crore recorded in the same period last year. The company’s standalone revenue from operations for the quarter amounted to Rs 9,519 crore, a growth of 14.6 per cent. 

After two days of noticeable gains in the oil and gas stocks, the Nifty Oil & Gas Index is trading 1.7 per cent lower, dragged down by Oil India Limited (down by 3.834 per cent), Mahanagar Gas Limited (down by 2.2 per cent), IGL (down by 2.15 per cent), and ONGC (down by 2.09 per cent). None of the Nifty’s oil and gas index stocks were trading in green as of 11:07 am. 

FMCG, IT, Media, Financial Services, Metal, Pharma, PSU Banks, Private Banks, Realty, Healthcare, and Consumer Durables were some of the other NSE indices that were trading in red as only the Nifty Auto Index registered gains.