The Indian stock market witnessed a sharp selloff in morning trade on Friday, 24 July, with the benchmarks, the Sensex and the Nifty 50, falling almost 1% each.
The 30-share pack crashed over 800 points, or 1%, to hit an intraday low of 75,575, while the NSE counterpart Nifty 50 shed over 200 points, or 1%, to touch the day’s low of 23,631.
The selloff was broad-based as the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 indices also declined nearly 1%.
Investors lost about ₹5 lakh crore as the overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms dropped to ₹472 lakh crore from nearly ₹477 lakh crore in the previous session.
Why is the stock market falling today?
Here are five key factors behind the fall in the Indian stock market
1. Crude oil prices jump above $100 per barrel
Crude oil prices extended gains for the sixth consecutive session on Friday, with Brent crude September Contract touching the $101 per barrel mark. So far this week, Brent crude has gained 15% after a 16% jump in the previous week. After falling for the last three consecutive months, Brent crude is now up nearly 40% so far in July.
Rising oil prices have revived concerns over their negative impact on the Indian economy, inflation trajectory, and corporate earnings, weighing on stock market sentiment.
“The attack on Saudi tankers by the Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea is the main reason for the recent sharp spike in Brent crude to about $100. Such a high price is bound to revive India’s balance of payments (BoP) concerns,” VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments, noted.
2. US-Iran conflict
The market is anxious as the end of the ongoing US-Iran conflict is not in sight. As per media reports, US President Donald Trump is considering launching a new major military operation against Iran. Meanwhile, the US military said late on Thursday it completed its latest round of strikes on Iran that marked a 13th consecutive night of American attacks.
3. Rising US bond yields
US bond yields have been rising in the US, aggravating the risk of heavy foreign capital outflows from emerging markets like India. The benchmark US 10-year bond yield has jumped by 6.5% this month so far, to 4.711%.
When the US bond yields rise, foreign investors tend to withdraw funds from emerging markets’ equities and invest in safer debt instruments back home.
“The spike in the US 10-year yield to 4.7% is negative for equity markets globally. This is a near-term risk,” said Vijayakumar.
4. Trump’s trade war is back
Trump’s tariff salvo against the trading partners of the US is back.
In the past two weeks, the US administration has announced tariffs of 25% on Brazil, 50% on Canada and up to 200% on generic drugs, and on Thursday, tariffs of 10% to 12.5% across as many as 60 trading partners.
The US announced new tariff rates of 10% and 12.5% on several countries under Section 301, with India placed in the lower 10% category.
The new US tariff rates have reinforced the view that tariffs remain central to Trump’s policy agenda, fuelling concerns that they could weigh on the global economy while boosting US inflation, thereby keeping interest rates higher for longer.
5. Technical factor
Nifty continues trading below 24,000, and on Friday, it even breached 23,700 in intraday trade.
Shrikant Chouhan, the head of equity research at Kotak Securities, believes that a weak structure may continue as long as the market trades below the 24,000 mark. On the downside, the market could slide towards 23,650-23550, said Chouhan.
According to Bajaj Broking, a breach below 23,800 will accelerate the decline towards 23,500, which is the confluence of the trendline support joining lows of April and June 2026, the bullish gap area of 15 June 2026 and 61.8% retracement of the recent up move from 23,070-24,530.
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Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. The views and recommendations expressed are those of individual analysts or broking firms, not Mint. We advise investors to consult with certified experts before making any investment decisions, as market conditions can change rapidly and circumstances may vary.
