Stock Market: Sensex drops over 300 points, Nifty below 24,400; pharma, bank stocks lead declines

The BSE Sensex was trading 331 points, or 0.41%, lower at 80,042. The Nifty50 was down 111 points, or 0.46%, trading at 24,355 around 9:17 am.

The Nifty 50 has fallen over 5.5% in October so far, heading for its worst monthly performance since March 2020, when lockdown-related restrictions shook investor confidence and triggered a global equity market meltdown.

Among Sensex stocks, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, HCL Tech, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank opened lower, while Maruti Suzuki, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, TCS, and L&T saw early gains.

Marico shares surged over 9% after the company exceeded second-quarter profit estimates, supported by recent price hikes.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders shares also surged 4% after the company signed a contract for an acoustic research ship in a deal worth Rs 491 crore.On the sectoral front, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare each fell 1.5%, while Nifty Bank, Financial Services, and Consumer Durables opened over 0.5% lower. In the broader market, Nifty Smallcap100 rose 0.4%, and Nifty Midcap100 gained 0.1%.Experts Take

“In the near term the market will be influenced by two factors – one positive and the other negative. The positive is the sharp decline in FII selling to just Rs 548 crores yesterday. This is an indication that the FII tactical trade of ‘Sell India, Buy China’ is coming to an end. With more DII and retail money coming to the market and FII selling tapering off, the market may get a near-term boost, aided by the festive mood,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

“But the uptrend is unlikely to sustain since the Q2 earnings numbers indicate softness in earnings for FY25. The consensus earnings estimates are likely to be revised down by most brokerages. With Nifty now trading at about 24 times FY25 estimated earnings, there is no valuation comfort in the market. This negative factor will cap the rally driven by domestic money,” Vijayakumar added.

Hardik Matalia, Derivative Analyst at Choice Broking, said, “Nifty can find support at 24,300 followed by 24,200 and 24,100. On the higher side, 24,550 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,650 and 24,750.”

More to come…