Three-Day Rally Pauses; Sensex Falls Over 450 Points Amid Metal and Pharma Weakness

The three-day rally in the domestic stock market came to a halt on Wednesday as profit-booking and sectoral weakness weighed on investor sentiment. The BSE Sensex dropped 450 points, while the Nifty50 fell more than 150 points, led by losses in metal and pharmaceutical stocks.

At around 10 a.m., the Sensex was trading at 83,345.02, down 472.67 points (0.56%), and the Nifty stood at 25,624.30, down 151.70 points (0.59%).

Sectoral trends

Among Sensex constituents, BEL, IndiGo, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, and Sun Pharma declined between 1% and 2.5%, while Hindustan Unilever gained over 1%. Other gainers included Trent, Infosys, TCS, and SBI, which rose by up to 0.5%. Market heavyweight Reliance Industries slipped 0.6%.

On the broader market front, the Nifty Smallcap 100 Index fell 1%, and the Nifty Midcap 100 Index declined 0.5%.

Expert view

VK Vijaykumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Giojit Investments, said that the Nifty is undergoing a consolidation phase. He noted that heavy selling in U.S. tech stocks has affected domestic IT shares. Investor concerns were heightened by a new automation tool launched by the U.S.-based AI firm Anthropic, which could disrupt IT and software companies.

However, he added that India’s growth outlook remains strong, supported by ongoing deals with the EU and the U.S., and the current volatility may be temporary.