Sensex Crash

KUALA LUMPUR, 23 JULY 2026 —

Sensex Nifty Crash: Indian stock markets experienced a significant downturn on Wednesday afternoon. Rising crude oil prices and geopolitical tensions battered investor sentiment across exchanges. US President Donald Trump's remarks on Iran further fueled fears of escalation in the Middle East. This led to a sharp decline in the Sensex and Nifty indices. Broader markets and sectoral indices also traded deep in the red.

Indian equities posted their steepest single-day decline since March as rising crude prices, renewed Middle East tensions and weak global cues triggered broad-based selling. Analysts said geopolitical developments, earnings guidance and central bank decisions will shape the market’s near-term direction. Indian stock markets experienced a significant downturn on Tuesday, with the Sensex and Nifty shedding substantial investor wealth.

This decline was fueled by a sharp sell-off in South Korea's Kospi index, renewed fears of US Federal Reserve rate hikes due to rising oil prices, and a resumption of selling pressure in IT stocks. The weakening Indian rupee also contributed to the negative sentiment, prompting profit-taking among investors. Indian equities experienced a sharp decline on Friday, snapping a five-day winning streak as IT stocks faced heavy selling pressure.

Weak global cues and the cancellation of US-Iran peace talks further dampened investor sentiment, leading to significant drops in the Sensex and Nifty. Indian equity markets experienced a significant sell-off on Monday, with the Sensex and Nifty declining around 1% each. This downturn was driven by a global market crash, persistent foreign institutional investor outflows, and escalating Middle East tensions, leading to a surge in oil prices and bond yields.

Indian stock markets experienced a significant downturn on Monday, with benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty falling over 1% each. Rising Iran-US tensions, persistent FII selling, and a surge in oil prices contributed to a broad-based selloff, wiping out over Rs 3 lakh crore from market capitalization. IT stocks also saw considerable losses after a recent bull run.

Indian stock markets experienced a sharp downturn Friday, with Sensex and Nifty falling due to persistent foreign investor selling and concerns over a predicted low monsoon. The IMD's forecast of below-normal rainfall and potential El Niño effects fueled inflation worries, impacting investor sentiment across Dalal Street. Stock Market Crash: Indian stock markets experienced a significant downturn on Monday. Both Sensex and Nifty saw substantial drops exceeding one percent.

This decline was driven by soaring global bond yields and a record low for the Indian rupee. The market capitalization of BSE-listed companies also saw a considerable reduction. Investors faced a challenging trading session as bearish sentiment dominated Dalal Street. Wiping off over Rs 5 lakh crore of investor wealth in just one day, Sensex lost another 800 points today, taking the total loss in the month so far to 2,600 points.

In terms of market capitalisation of all-BSE listed stocks, investors have been left poorer by Rs 9.8 lakh crore in the month. The BSE market capitalisation fell Rs 5.06 lakh crore to Rs 146.87 lakh crore. The 50-pack Nifty slipped below 19,300 mark on 1.35% slide in the index, its BSE counterpart Sensex lost 800 points and gave up the 65,000 mark.

While market gurus are divided over whether we are in the mid of a bear phase or a correction in a bull market that began in the aftermath of the Covid-led crash in March 2020, most experts believe that the weakness may continue ahead of the Fed meeting outcome on Wednesday. The 30-share pack Sensex tumbled 2702.15 points or 4.72 per cent to close at 54,529.91.

Its broader peer NSE Nifty tanked 815.30 points or 4.78 per cent to 16,247.95. Experts said corporate earnings for the three months ended December have also failed to provide any reason to cheer. Technology stocks have been the worst performers in the last four sessions of losses. After reaching a record high of 85,978 points on September 27, the Sensex declined for four straight weeks before stabilizing during Diwali week.

With two major events approaching—the US election and the Fed meeting—traders adopted a risk-off approach on Monday, causing the Sensex to drop nearly 1,500 points. Nifty also fell about 2% to 23,800, marking its lowest level since August 6. Ahead of its follow-on public offer (FPO), Adani Enterprises has raised Rs 5,985 crore by allotting shares to anchor investors.

The Adani Group’s flagship company has allotted 1,82,68,925 shares to over 30 institutional investors at Rs 3,276 a share, the upper end of the FPO price band of Rs 3,112-3,276 a share. South Korea was on high alert while the number of infections jumped to 700 and deaths rose to 7. The sharp rise in crude oil prices due to the Russian ‘invasion’ into Europe pushed indices sharply lower in the morning.

However, they recovered after crude oil prices cooled off a bit. A viral video by Gaurav Kapur satirises finance influencers' shifting advice during market rallies versus crashes. The clip highlights how confident stock-picking promises during bull runs transform into cautious, blame-free guidance when markets turn volatile, resonating with retail investors.

Headline equity index Nifty on Friday formed a long bear candle on the daily chart, indicating a decisive downside breakout of the sideways range movement in the market at 17800 levels. Nifty was trading in a range of 18250 to 17750 levels over the last month, and the market action of the last two sessions opens the potential downside pattern target of around 17200-17300 levels in the near term, chart readers said.

“The index could drag lower to 16,750 levels. Immediate support for the index is placed at 17,500 levels. Resistance for the index at 17,800 levels,” said Apurva Sheth, Head of Market Perspectives & Research, SAMCO Securities.

A $10 move in crude adds about 0.4 per cent to the current account deficit (CAD) and a higher current account deficit impacts the currency, said Aniruddha Naha, Head-Equity, PGIM India Mutual Fund, who believes one has to closely track crude oil prices. India VIX, which measures fear and volatility in the market, jumped 22 per cent to 22.33 as traders changed their positions in the market.

In the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti and UltraTech Cement were the top losers, falling over 2%. Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finance and SBI also closed with cuts India VIX spiked nearly 5.83 per cent to 21.76, snapping its 8-day losing streak. This means traders on Dalal Street expect greater volatility going ahead.

"The Fed’s dot plot was also moved higher with year-end rates expected to be 3.40 per cent from 2.80 per cent previously. That implies another 1.75 per cent of hiking is still to come in 2022," said Jeffrey Halley, Senior Market Analyst, Asia Pacific, OANDA. World over, the number of coronavirus cases has climbed to 7,13,740.

Holding the UPA government responsible for the bloodbath at the Sensex, the BJP on Wednesday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe to find out the beneficiaries of the crash triggered by SEBI's "untimely" proposal to regulate participatory notes. Nervousness on the new coronavirus variant and expectations of the US increasing the pace of tapering has led to recent market weakness, said analysts. India VIX, a measure that shows fear in the market,…

Related: Federal Reserve