The sell-off in the Indian stock market intensified further in Wednesday’s session (22 July) as tensions in the Middle East showed no signs of easing, keeping crude oil prices elevated. Investor sentiment was also weighed down by concerns over potential US tariffs on pharmaceutical exports.
Although the Nifty 50 opened the session with modest losses, selling pressure intensified as the day progressed, dragging the index 0.77% lower to close at 24,000. At its intraday low, the benchmark had declined nearly 1%. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.95% to end the session at 76,732.
The broader markets, which had outperformed the benchmark indices in recent sessions, also came under pressure. Both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices ended the day with losses of more than 1% each.
Among sectoral indices, Nifty Media emerged as the worst performer, plunging 2.63%, followed by Nifty Realty and Nifty PSU Bank, which declined 2.6% and 1.8%, respectively.
Other major sectoral indices, including Nifty IT and Nifty Private Bank, also ended the session more than 1% lower.
Meanwhile, the Nifty Pharma index dropped as much as 2.1% after US President Donald Trump proposed steep tariffs on imported generic medicines. Trump said in a Truth Social post that manufacturers of non-patented drugs would have two years to shift production to the US or face a 100% import tariff, which would double a year later.
Hostilities in the Middle East continued for an 11th consecutive day, with the US carrying out fresh strikes on Iran on Tuesday, while Iran launched missile and drone attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait.
