• The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty experienced a downturn due to pressures on the auto, IT, and PSU banks sectors.
• Despite this, the Nifty Midcap 100 index and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index showed resilience.
• Foreign Institutional Investors increased their selling, while domestic institutional investors increased their buying.
• Despite the downward trend, the overall market sentiment remained positive, indicating the resilience of the Indian stock market.

The Indian benchmark indices experienced a significant downturn on Wednesday, October 16, 2024. The BSE Sensex plunged by 318.76 points or 0.39 per cent, closing at 81,501.36. The NSE Nifty followed a similar trajectory, closing at 24,971.30, down by 86.05 points or 0.34 per cent. This downward trend was primarily attributed to pressures on the auto, IT, and PSU banks sectors.

Market experts have pointed out that the national market traded range bound with a negative bias due to the fear of a downgrade in FY25 earnings. This fear could potentially impact the sustainability of premium valuation. Market participants are expecting only a slow pace in earnings expansion in Q2FY25 due to weak demand and volatile input prices.

Despite the downward trend in the Sensex and Nifty, the Nifty Midcap 100 index and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index showed resilience. The Nifty Midcap 100 index settled at 59,451.85, down 141.40 points or 0.24 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed with a gain at 19,304.90, up 2.85 points or 0.01 per cent.

Market Performance and Key Players

The Nifty Bank, however, slipped 104.95 points or 0.20 per cent to close at 51,801.05. The rally was driven by Nifty's Fin service, realty, energy, infra, and oil and gas sectors. Auto, IT, PSU Bank, pharma, FMCG, and metal were major laggards.

Despite the Sensex plunge, the overall market sentiment remained positive. On BSE, 2,030 shares closed in green and 1,930 shares in red, while 108 shares closed without any change.

In the Sensex pack, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, and SBI were among the top gainers. On the other hand, M&M, Infosys, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, Titan, Kotak Mahindra, and ITC were the top losers.

Institutional Investors and Gold Prices

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) increased their selling on Tuesday and sold equities worth Rs 1,748.71 crore. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also increased their buying and they bought equities worth Rs 1,654.96 crore on the same day.

Meanwhile, gold prices stayed elevated with gains of Rs 350 in MCX, while Comex gold traded above $2,675, up 0.55 per cent. Traders continue to position themselves on expectations that the Federal Reserve will maintain its path of interest rate cuts.