Share Markets Continue To Bleed, Sensex About 300 Points Down, Nifty Tests 25,850

Indian share markets looked set for a muted session on Tuesday. The BSE Sensex started the day a little above 84,800, crashing 290 points, while the NSE Nifty50 rang the opening bell at 25,848, plummeting more than 100 points.

In the pre-open session, the Sensex tanked close to 300 points and tested 84,800, and the Nifty took a tumble of almost 100 points and stood near 25,850, around 9:05 AM.

On the 30-share Sensex, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, and Titan emerged as the only gainers in the morning. On the other hand, Asian Paints bled more than 2.5 per cent, followed by other laggards such as Eternal, Trent, Tech M, and Reliance.

In the broader markets, the Nifty Microcap250 led across the board with losses of 1.08 per cent. Sectorally, indices painted a sea of red, with the Media index leading after it nosedived and bled 1.59 per cent.

US Fed Meet Begins Today 

The US Federal Reserve will commence its two-day policy review on Tuesday, with the Federal Open Market Committee set to deliberate on benchmark interest rates for the world’s largest economy. The rate decision is scheduled for release on Wednesday.

Data from the exchanges showed that Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 655.59 crore on Monday, while Domestic Institutional Investors stepped in with purchases amounting to Rs 2,542.49 crore. Despite expectations that the US Fed could signal a rate cut on December 10, overall sentiment remains delicate, said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd. He noted that persistent FII selling, the rupee inching closer to the 90-per-dollar mark, and softening global trends are keeping investors on edge.

Global Markets And Oil Prices

Across Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, South Korea’s KOSPI and Shanghai’s SSE Composite were trading lower, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was in positive territory. US equities also finished in the red on Monday as traders grew cautious ahead of the Fed outcome.

Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global benchmark, edged down 0.21 per cent to $62.36 per barrel.

Markets On December 9

Notably, market sentiment turned sharply negative on Monday, wiping off Rs 7.12 lakh crore in investor wealth as the Sensex reversed its two-day winning streak. The benchmark index slumped 609.68 points, or 0.71 per cent, to end at 85,102.69, with broad-based selling triggered by profit booking and persistent foreign investor outflows. The combined market capitalisation of companies listed on the BSE fell to Rs 4,64,19,108.91 crore ($5.15 trillion).

According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Research (Wealth Management) at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, the sharp slide reflected heightened caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy review, continued FII selling, and profit taking across indices. The Nifty50 also mirrored the mood, losing 226 points to close at 25,961.