The markets are under all-round selling pressure, and the cut is deeper across small and midcaps. The Nifty 50 and the Sensex have each fallen by over 0.8%, and the Nifty is now struggling below the 26,000 mark.
Hindlaco Industries led the list of losers in the Nifty 50, which was followed by ONGC, Adani Enterprises, Jio Financial Services, TCS, and others.
The cut is significantly deeper across the broader markets in Thursday’s trade. The Nifty Midcap 100 fell as much as 1.77% to an intra-day low of 60,332.90, while the BSE Smallcap 100 declined 1.43% to 51,076.36. National Aluminium was the major loser among the midcap stocks, followed by Hindustan Petroleum Corp., NMDC, and many others.
Why are investors worried?
Explaining the market sentiment, Deepak Jasani, a market veteran, said, “We are seeing a tired rush to exit sentiment amongst investors in the market today. The extended correction in silver prices, coupled with geopolitical tension and continued FII selling, is keeping investors on tenterhooks. Small and midcaps have been underperformers, and this cautious tone further accelerated selling in them.”
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments, added that, “the much-awaited US-India trade deal, which is critical for India’s sustained growth and macro-economic stability, is not happening. This and the continuing FII selling are impacting the market.”
“Even though Indian large-cap valuations are fair, cheaper valuations in other markets do not offer a compelling need for FIIs to buy in India,” Vijayakumar said.
4 reasons why markets are falling today
Here are four reasons why the selling has been rather sharp in the small and midcap space and the overall cautious tone across the market-
#1 Tariff concerns continue
According to the latest reports on PTI, the US President Donald Trump has backed a sanctions bill that could impose 500% tariffs on countries that are buying Russian oil. This move is seen as a step that could potentially give the White House leverage against countries like China and India to prevent buying oil from Moscow.
US Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday said in a social media post on X that, “After a very productive meeting today with President Trump on a variety of issues, he greenlit the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that I have been working on for months with Senator Blumenthal and many others.”
This, along with no material announcement with regards to the US-India trade deal, is making investors nervous.
#2 FII selling
Foreign Institutional Investors have been continuously selling in the Indian equity markets. FIIs have been net sellers for six consecutive months now. Even in January so far, they continue to be net sellers. They have net sold Rs 4,650.39 crore in January so far. Out of the six sessions, FIIs were net sellers in 5 of them. In December, they sold equities worth Rs 34,349.62 crore. In 2025 a s a whole FIIs net sold equities worth over Rs 3 lakh crore- the highest in 5 years.
#3 Correction in silver prices
Silver prices declined sharply in a highly volatile session after U.S. ADP non-farm employment data exceeded expectations. The rebound in the dollar index against major global currencies capped gains in precious metals. This led to a fall in domestic metal stocks’ prices. Hindustan Zinc, which is India’s largest silver miner, fell over 6% in Thursday’s trade. The Nifty Metal dropped more than 3%, the highest among the sectoral indices.
#4 Geopolitical turmoil
The Geopolitical tension – US intervention in Venezuela and the rising tensions between China and Japan is making investors cautious. Washington outlined plans to take long-term control over Venezuelan crude sales, while US authorities seized additional Venezuelan-linked tankers. The White House also confirmed discussions on acquiring Greenland, including potential military involvement,” said Jigar Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.