Mid-day Mood | Sensex, Nifty fall 1% amid FII outflows, earnings woes; India VIX up 7%

The broader market bore a huge brunt of the sell-off, with the BSE Midcap index down by 2 percent and the BSE Smallcap index slipping almost 3 percent.

Sensex and Nifty were down by a percent around midday on October 25 amid high volatility. Today marked the fifth consecutive session of declines for the benchmarks, driven by lacklustre earnings, persistent FII outflows, and US election uncertainty.

At 11.53 AM, the Sensex was down 678 points or 0.9 percent at 79,386, and the Nifty was down 265 points or 1 percent at 24,133. About 459 shares advanced, 2,826 shares declined, and 82 shares remained unchanged.

The broader market bore a huge brunt of the sell-off, with the BSE Midcap index down by 2 percent and the BSE Smallcap index slipping almost 3 percent. India VIX, the market's fear gauge, surged over 7 percent to reach 15.

Foreign investors continued their selling spree, with FIIs offloading over Rs 97,200 crore worth of shares in October alone, while domestic institutional investors provided some relief, buying Rs 92,900 crore worth of shares.

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Sectoral Trend

Excluding the defensive sectors—FMCG, Pharma, and Healthcare—the remaining ten sectoral indices faced selling pressure. Nifty Auto, Energy, Infrastructure, Media, Realty, PSU Bank, and Metal were among the hardest hit, with declines of 2-3 percent each.

Fundamental View

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said that there's a shift in the long-term market trend. The strategy of 'buying on dips,' which had consistently worked since the Nifty's COVID low in March 2020 is now faltering due to relentless selling by FIIs.

"The consensus downward revision in FY25 earnings estimate and the weak Q2 numbers have soured the sentiments to slightly bearish mode," Vijayakumar said. However, sustained inflows into mutual funds are helping DIIs absorb FII selling, providing some resilience, particularly in large-cap financials.

Technical View

Hardik Matalia, Derivative Analyst at Choice Broking sees the 24,550–24,700 range as a good selling zone as long as the index stays below 25,000. "On the downside, the 24,200–24,000 range is viewed as a critical support level," he said. Matalia advised caution, strict stop-losses, and avoiding overnight long positions to manage risk in the current volatile market.

Also Read | IndusInd Bank no longer among top 10 most valuable banks in India as shares plummet 18%

Key Nifty gainers

ITC, Sun Pharmaceitocal, Axis Bank, Nestle, HCL Tech

Key Nifty losers

IndusInd Bank, M&M, Trent, Shriram Finance, Adani Enterprises

Key Sensex gainers

ITC, Sun Pharmaceutical, Axis Bank, Nestle, HCL Tech

Key Sensex losers

IndusInd Bank, M&M, L&T, NTPC, Titan

Stock moves

IndusInd Bank: Shares plunged almost 20 percent, falling the most in nearly 5 months after the lender reported a poor set of numbers for the quarter ended September. Data also showed that 2.38 million shares of the bank changed hands in different block deals.

Godrej Consumer Products: Shares rose over 2 percent as a host of brokerages issued bullish calls on the counter following the FMCG major's second quarter earnings.

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