It’s been a broad-based selloff on the market as crude prices spiked above the $110/bbl level. The sell-off was not just limited to benchmark indices. The sectoral indices saw cuts in line with Nifty and the Sensex. Nifty Bank, Realty, Auto, and other indices are deep in the red.
Here is a look at the top sector losers and the stocks that are bleeding in today’s session-
Nifty Bank Index down 3%
The bank heavy index saw the highest cut in today’s trade among the sectoral indices as the heaviest counter crashed. The Nifty Bank fell to a low of 3.41% in Thursday’s weak trade.
The reason was the share price of HDFC Bank cracking 8.6% to a low of Rs 770 on the National Stock Exchange. This sharp drop in the stock price came after the country’s largest private lender’s part-time chairman resigned, citing ethical misconduct.
Realty Index sees sharp cut
The Nifty Realty followed suit, declining more than 3%. Godrej Properties was the most sold stock in the realty basket, dropping over 4%. It was followed by DLF, Prestige Estates Projects, Anant Raj, Lodha Developers, Brigade Enterprises, and many other realty stocks.
Tech stocks under severe selling pressure
As the US Fed chief Powell bluntly said, if there’s no progress on inflation, then there won’t be a rate cut. It was tariffs till yesterday, and now, the Oil shock is leading to higher inflation. The projections of core PCE inflation were also revised upwards to 2.7%, leading to limited room for rate cuts this year.
This led IT stocks to eke out losses of over 4%. The Nifty IT has dropped over 3% in today’s trade. The mid-IT stocks saw the highest drop in stock prices, with MphasiS, Coforge, Infosys, etc.
Petroleum stocks deep in red
The petroleum stocks came under pressure as crude oil hit a high of $114. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation is seeing a drop of almost 6%, followed by Petronet LNG, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, and many others.
So, the continued hostilities have heightened risks to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for about 20% of global oil trade. Oil prices have surged as tensions persist, with the potential deployment of additional US troops under consideration to secure energy supply routes.
Automobile stocks plunge
Samvardhana Motherson International, Bharat Forge, Ashok Leyland, TVS Motor Company, and many other auto stocks fell due to overall weak sentiments and rising crude oil prices. The surge in crude oil prices is leading to a fall in the automobile stocks. The automobile stocks declined by over 4%.
In a recent incident, Iranian missiles attacked energy infrastructure in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, including damage to LNG facilities operated by QatarEnergy at Ras Laffan, which processes nearly one-fifth of global gas supply.