Sensex down over 350 pts, Nifty below 25,400 as IT, auto, pharma stocks fall; all eyes on TCS Q1 results

Laggards on the index included Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Cipla, Shriram Finance, and Wipro.

Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex came under heavy selling pressure in the afternoon session on July 10, marking their second straight day of losses as sharp declines in IT, pharma, and auto stocks dragged the market lower. The weakness spilt over to the broader market, with small and midcap stocks also trading in the red.

At about noon, the Sensex was down 365.99 points or 0.44 percent at 83,170.09, and the Nifty was down 113.15 points or 0.44 percent at 25,362.95. About 1547 shares advanced, 1830 shares declined, and 140 shares remained unchanged.

"While the tariff-related concerns linger, the focus now shifts to the earnings season, with IT major TCS scheduled to announce its results later today. Additionally, the weekly expiry could add to the choppiness," Ajit Mishra, Senior Vice President at Religare Broking, said.

Experts say that no announcement yet of a trade deal with the US has weighed on sentiment. Furthermore, Trump has also been dishing out new letters to countries for tariffs. "Any added that any progress in finalising trade agreements over the coming weeks and months should reduce uncertainty, while any flexibility in lowering tariffs should help contain inflation and growth concerns," Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities, said.

Also read: Govt nudging big NBFCs to seek banking licence amid need for more banks

NSE sectoral indices were largely in the red, with broad-based weakness across key segments. Nifty IT was the biggest laggard, falling 1 percent, followed by Pharma, Auto, and PSU Bank, which declined between 0.5–0.8 percent. Bank Nifty, FMCG, Infra, Energy, and Oil & Gas also slipped in the range of 0.2–0.4 percent, while the Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices were down 0.31 percent and 0.23 percent, respectively.

On the positive side, Nifty Realty gained 0.43 percent, and Nifty Metal rose 0.29 percent. Meanwhile, India VIX edged up 1.17 percent, indicating a slight increase in market volatility.

Shares of housing finance companies rose by up to 5 percent after Bernstein initiated coverage on four listed firms with a largely positive view on the sector, citing structural growth opportunities and business model resilience. The brokerage has rated HomeFirst Finance, Aptus Value Housing, and Aadhar Housing Finance as ‘Outperform’, while assigning a ‘Market Perform’ rating to Aavas Financiers.

Read more: Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc shares extend losses to 2nd day after short-seller's 'Ponzi scheme' allegations

Crizac shares gained over 5 percent on July 10, a day after the stock debuted on the stock markets. The newly-listed stock is currently over 32 percent higher than its IPO price. Crizac shares had listed at Rs 281 apiece on NSE on July 9, marking a premium of nearly 15 percent over its IPO price of Rs 245 apiece.

Shares of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) rose over 2 percent ahead of its June quarter earnings announcement due later in the day. Its Q1 update showed that loan sanctions during the April–June period rose 28.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 11,740 crore, while disbursements grew 31.1 percent to Rs 6,981 crore, signalling continued momentum in the renewable energy financing space.

"The Nifty ended lower on Wednesday following a late-session selloff. Technically, the index failed to build on Tuesday’s "bullish flag" breakout, leaving the bullish setup unconfirmed. A decisive close above 25,548 is needed to validate the breakout and open the path towards 25,600, and potentially the recent swing high near 25,670," Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research at Axis Securities, said.

Tata Steel, Jio Financial Services, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, and UltraTech Cement were the top gainers on the Nifty. Laggards on the index included Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Cipla, Shriram Finance, and Wipro.