Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares of Rs 12,292 crore on Friday – the highest single day inflow in a year—but could not stop the indices from falling by over a percentage point.
According to provisional data from BSE, there was broad-based selling, largely driven by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) who sold shares worth 7,536.36 crore — their biggest single-day outflow in six months (since August 29, 2025).
Dragged down by index heavyweights from banking and telecom, the Sensex slumped 961.42 points, or 1.17%, to close at 81,287.19. The Nifty fell 317.90 points, or 1.25%, to end at 25,178.65. Nearly half of the losses came in the last 30 minutes of trade. The broader BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices declined 1.04% and 0.89%, respectively.
For the week, the Sensex and Nifty ended lower by 1.84% and 1.54%, respectively. In February, the benchmarks declined by up to 1.19% — largely dragged down by IT shares — marking their third consecutive monthly fall.
IT Bloodbath
The Nifty IT Index plunged 19.5% during the month, registering its steepest monthly decline in 17 years (since September 2008).
“Investor sentiment weakened due to a combination of factors including inconsistent foreign flows, weak global cues, and lingering geopolitical tensions,” said Ajit Mishra, SVP – Research, Religare Broking. The underperformance of select heavyweights across sectors further intensified the decline, he added.
“The markets remained under pressure for yet another session amid broad-based selling across indices.
Technical Breakdown
The Nifty slipped below its crucial 200-DMA placed at 25,350, which is now expected to act as an immediate resistance zone,” said Nilesh Jain, VP – Head of Technical and Derivative Research at Centrum Finverse.
The key psychological support is now seen at the 25,000 mark, and the overall structure points to continued weakness, with pullbacks likely to face selling pressure, Jain added.
Market breadth remained negative, with 2,528 losers against 1,660 gainers on the BSE. The broad-based selling wiped out nearly Rs 5 lakh crore of investor wealth on Friday. The NSE India VIX rose 4.89% to 13.70, indicating heightened volatility.
Barring IT, which eked out marginal gains, all other sectoral indices ended in the red. Realty, auto, FMCG, telecom, metal, and financial services were the top losers, declining by up to 2.25%.
Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Bajaj Finserv, and IndiGo were among the top Sensex laggards, falling by up to 2.61%.
ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, and M&M together accounted for 547 points, or 57%, of the Sensex’s 961-point decline on Friday.