The Indian stock market came under severe selling pressure in Thursday’s session, February 12, largely led by a broad-based sell-off in technology stocks. Oil and gas, realty, and FMCG shares also joined the decline, dragging the key indices down by over 0.50%.
The Nifty 50 fell 0.57% to close at 25,807, while the S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.72% lower at 83,626 compared with the previous close. The broader markets also finished in the red, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices declining more than 0.50%.
Technology stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off from the opening bell, as stronger-than-expected US jobs data tempered expectations of rapid rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve.
Earlier this month, tech stocks saw heavy bleeding after concerns grew that new AI tools could automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing, and data analysis — areas traditionally serviced by software firms and IT service providers.
Reflecting the weakness among heavyweights, the Nifty IT index plunged 5.5%, marking its second-biggest intraday fall in this month, and emerged as the top sectoral laggard. The fall also led to a 13% drop in February so far.
During the same period last year, domestic tech stocks had also witnessed heavy selling following China’s launch of the low-cost AI model DeepSeek, which led to a 12.6% decline in the index in February.
Alongside technology, oil and gas, realty, FMCG, pharma, PSU, and auto stocks also closed with significant losses of up to 1.45%. On the upside, the Nifty Consumer Durables index was the only sector to end the session higher, posting a modest gain of 0.40%.
Sonata, KPIT, Coforge tumble up to 8% in widespread market weakness
The top 10 laggards in today’s trade were IT stocks, led by Sonata Software, KPIT Technologies, Birlasoft, Coforge, Oracle Financial Services, Tech Mahindra, Zensar Technologies, Infosys, LTIMindtree, and TCS, all of which declined between 5.5% and 8.4%.
Other stocks from the technology pack, including Hexaware Technologies, Tata Elxsi, Newgen Software Technologies, HCL Technologies, Mphasis, Persistent Systems, Cyient, and Wipro, also witnessed heavy losses, falling in the range of 4.5% to 5.3%.
Weaker-than-expected numbers from Amara Raja Energy dragged the stock down 5.5% to ₹861 apiece. Investors also reacted negatively to TBO Tek’s Q3 results, sending the stock 4.3% lower to ₹1,472 apiece.
After a seven-day rally, Force Motors saw profit booking, declining 4% to ₹23,899 apiece. Chemical stocks such as SRF, Sumitomo Chemical, and Gujarat Fluorochemicals fell 3.7%, 2.8%, and 3.8%, respectively.
Overall, 50 constituents of the Nifty 500 index closed the session with losses exceeding 3%.
Godrej Agrovet, Max Financial Lead Gains in Weak Session
Despite the widespread sell-off, some stocks bucked the trend, with Godrej Agrovet surging 6.5% to ₹633. Max Financial Services also defied the weak market sentiment, rallying 4.6% to ₹1,813 apiece following its December quarter results.
Extending its winning run for the fourth straight session, Finolex Industries shares jumped 5.4% to ₹191, touching a four-month high of ₹191 during intraday trade.
After a period of volatility, Hindustan Copper witnessed a sharp rise in demand, closing 3.5% higher at ₹625 apiece — its biggest single-day gain in two weeks.
Other gainers included Sundaram Finance, Elgi Equipments, Muthoot Finance, Bajaj Finance, Multi Commodity Exchange, and Eris Lifesciences, all of which closed with gains ranging between 3% and 3.5%.
Disclaimer: We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
