The stock markets started 2026 on a negative note—the third time in the past four years—with both the Sensex and the Nifty falling over 1% in the first eight days of the year. Continuing their losing streak for the fourth straight session on Thursday, the benchmark indices fell up to 1% amid renewed geopolitical tensions, trade-related concerns and persistent selling by foreign portfolio investors.
The Sensex dropped 780.18 points or 0.92%–its biggest single-day fall since August 26, 2025–to close at 84,180.96. The Nifty slumped 263.90 points, or 1.01%, to end at 25,876.85, despite the government’s first advance estimate for FY26 GDP signalling robust growth, supported by a manufacturing rebound and a resilient services sector. Over the past four sessions, the Sensex and the Nifty have fallen 1,581.05 points (1.84%) and 451.70 points (1.72%), respectively.
Investor wealth was eroded by Rs 7.68 lakh crore — the biggest single-day loss since April 25, 2025 — as total market capitalisation on the BSE declined to Rs 472.26 lakh crore.
Escalating US-Russia Sanctions
“Market sentiment deteriorated amid heightened geopolitical tensions and global trade-related concerns, which weighed on overall risk appetite,” said Ajit Mishra, SVP – research, Religare Broking. Continued foreign institutional selling, coupled with weakness in the rupee, added to the negative bias, he said.
“The domestic markets extended losses as the sentiment turned cautious amid renewed concerns over US tariffs and persistent FII outflows, overshadowing optimism around earnings growth,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Investments. In the near term, markets are expected to remain cautious and trade range-bound, influenced by Q3 earnings and developments on US tariffs, he added.
On Thursday, the overall market breadth was sharply negative, with 3,225 losers against 992 gainers on the BSE.
The broader market also came under heavy pressure during the day, with the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices falling 1.99% and 1.97%, respectively, significantly underperforming the benchmarks.
FPIs sold shares worth Rs 3,367.12 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 3,701.17 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data by the BSE.
Metals and Energy Lead the Retreat
The broad-based selling was led by metal, oil & gas and IT stocks. Metal shares declined on profit-booking following a retreat in global prices, while oil & gas stocks fell amid concerns over the US- Venezuela situation.
All sectoral indices on the BSE as well as the NSE ended in the red. Metals were the worst-performing sector, falling 3.40%, followed by oil & gas (down 2.84%), PSU banks (down 2.06%), and IT (down 1.99%).
Over the past four sessions, oil & gas emerged as the biggest sectoral laggard, declining 6.14%, followed by metals (down 2.54%) and auto stocks (down 1.35%).
All but four stocks in the 30-share Sensex pack and 45 out of the 50 Nifty stocks ended lower on Thursday.
Hindalco Industries, Jio Financial Services, Wipro, ONGC and Tech Mahindra were the top Nifty losers, declining by up to 3.78%.
Over the past four sessions, Trent was the biggest loser among the Nifty 50 constituents, plunging 9.55%. Reliance Industries followed with a 7.68% drop, while HDFC Bank (down 5.22%), ONGC (down 4.46%) and Power Grid (down 4.39%) also witnessed sharp losses.