By Vineet Kumar 
The Nifty index dropped to 23,700, with the entire market feeling the pressure as every sector faced losses. This marks the fifth straight day of declines for both Nifty and Sensex, which have now
fallen to levels not seen since June 25. This wave of selling has been fueled by India’s latest inflation report, showing prices spiking to a 14-month high of 6.21%—above the RBI’s comfort zone.
As inflation bites, investor sentiment has turned cautious, and traders are on edge, looking for signs of stability. At around 10:45 am, Sensex was down by 448.50 points, or 0.57%, trading at 78,226.68, while Nifty slipped 166.80 points, or 0.70%, at 23,716.70. The overall market showed a clear bearish trend, with 595 stocks advancing, 2,651 declining, and 89 staying unchanged.
According to Siddhartha Khemka from Motilal Oswal, high valuations, weak Q2 earnings, and persistent foreign outflows are weighing on market sentiment. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold over Rs 3,000 crore yesterday alone, pushing their total sales this month past Rs 25,000 crore. Despite Domestic Institutional Investors stepping in to support, they haven’t been able to offset the intense selling pressure.
The impact isn’t limited to just the benchmark indices—mid- and small-cap stocks, which had gained roughly 25% this year (compared to Nifty’s 13% rise), also started showing signs of strain, falling 1.5% and 2%, respectively. The market’s fear gauge, India VIX, ticked up over 2%, signaling increased caution.
Meanwhile, Swiggy debuted on the market, listing at Rs 420, about 8% higher than its IPO price, though there was no grey market premium—a sign that investors weren’t particularly excited. In other news, Britannia’s stock took a 2% hit after disappointing quarterly results, as weak consumer demand kept investors wary.
Varun Beverages, PepsiCo’s bottling partner, dropped 1% following news of two African acquisitions. Despite HSBC’s recent Buy rating with a target price of Rs 780, the stock felt the weight of cautious market sentiment.
From a technical perspective, Akshay Chinchalkar at Axis Securities noted that Nifty is now testing key support between 23,700 and 23,779. A dip below this range could bring it down to another critical support level, marking its weakest point in over a year. “This would be the first time Nifty approaches this level in 19 months,” Chinchalkar explained. “While daily momentum isn’t severely compromised yet, weekly indicators are flashing warning signs we haven’t seen since March.”
Among sectors, autos took the hardest hit, with names like M&M, Maruti Suzuki, and Bajaj Auto sliding as much as 5%. Pharma, healthcare, and realty sectors fell by around 1%, while banking, energy, FMCG, infrastructure, and metals also registered losses.
On the brighter side, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Trent, Tata Motors, and Titan were some of the day’s rare gainers, offering a little stability in an otherwise turbulent session.