Indian stock market today: Indian equities retreated sharply from their recent gains, with key averages falling over 1% in Wednesday’s trade on February 19, as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East intensified. Uncertainty around the path of US interest rates also weighed on sentiment, while strength in crude oil prices prompted bulls to step aside.
Consequently, the Nifty 50 shed 1.4% to close below the psychological 25,500 mark at the 25,416 level, while the Sensex slipped even deeper, falling 1.48% to 82,296.
The broader markets, too, closed with deeper cuts, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index dropping 1.8% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index shedding 1.5%. The sell-off did not leave a single key sectoral index closing in the green, indicating widespread pain.
The Nifty Realty index was among the worst hit, falling 2.56%, followed by Nifty Media, which declined 2.23%, and the Nifty Auto index, which dropped 2.10%. Others, including Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty IT, all closed with losses of over 1%.
On the geopolitical front, the recent reports indicated that any US military action would likely unfold as a weeks-long campaign, with Israel’s government advocating an outcome aimed at regime change in the Islamic Republic.
Meanwhile, the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting highlighted a divide among policymakers, with some participants open to rate cuts if disinflation continues, while others favoured maintaining or even tightening policy should inflation remain persistent.
Metals, OMCs lead the top losers
Metal and OMC stocks have seen sharp selling pressure, with Lloyds Metals & Energy falling 7% to ₹1,127, while Jindal Saw slumped 5% to ₹177.9 apiece. All three major OMC stocks—HPCL, BPCL, and IOC—fell up to 5% amid a rally in crude oil prices overnight.
Paytm saw a 4.50% drop in its shares to ₹1,145 apiece, while EMS stocks such as Kaynes Technology, PG Electroplast, and Syrma SGS Technology dropped 4.4%, 3.3%, and 3.1%, respectively.
The broader sell-off also dragged RHI Magnesita India down by 4% to ₹464.50, ending its three-day winning run, and also hit Force Motors, which closed 4.35% lower.
The Nifty 50 constituent InterGlobe Aviation closed 3.3% lower at ₹4,815 apiece.
Other key stocks such as JM Financial, Kalyan Jewellers, Godrej Properties, Hero MotoCorp, Angel One, BASF India, PTC Industries, Usha Martin, and Praj Industries all lost over 3% of their value.
Select stocks defy broader market weakness
In a broad-based sell-off, some stocks managed to defy the weakness, with Newgen Software Technologies leading the charts as the stock maintained its momentum for the third straight session, gaining another 17.2% to ₹622.9 apiece.
Tata Investment Corp and Oil India were among the top performers in the Nifty 500 stocks, surging 7.5% and 5.1%, respectively. Netweb Technologies, too, closed 4.6% higher at ₹3,527 apiece.
Other top performers included Godrej Industries, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Ramkrishna Forgings, and Birlasoft, rallying between 2.7% and 4.2%.
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