Stock market extends losing streak to four sessions; Sensex hits fresh 52-week low

Mumbai, Oct 1 (PTI) Market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty extended losses for the fourth straight session on Thursday as heavy FII selling, high bond yields and a fresh spike in crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment.

The BSE Sensex dropped 570.59 points, or 0.79 per cent, to settle at 71,909.70.

The 30-share benchmark shed as much as 1,187.41 points to hit a fresh 52-week low of 71,292.88 during the session.

The 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 198.50 points, or 0.88 per cent, to end at 22,421.95.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, ITC, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever and Eternal were the major laggards.

Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Tech and HDFC Bank were among the winners.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 10,148.41 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. In five consecutive sessions till Wednesday, FIIs have offloaded equities worth Rs 34,203.14 crore.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 2.77 per cent to USD 100.8 per barrel.

"The market sell-off has been driven largely by external factors, with bond yields reaching multi-year highs and crude oil prices remaining elevated, raising concerns about the economic outlook for 2026–27," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.

The BSE SmallCap Select index tanked 0.96 per cent and the MidCap Select index was down 0.71 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Auto tumbled 3.09 per cent, Metal 2.18 per cent, Consumer Discretionary 2.07 per cent, Commodities 1.90 per cent, Utilities 1.71 per cent, Housing Finance 1.52 per cent, FMCG 1.51 per cent and Consumer Durables 1.35 per cent.

IT, Telecommunication, Insurance and Hospitals were the winners.

"The Nifty-50 has declined 7.9 per cent over the past eight weeks, marking its longest losing streak since 2020 and taking the index to a six-month low," Siddhartha Khemka - Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended sharply higher.

Markets in Europe were trading lower.

US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday.

"A renewed rise in the US 10-year Treasury yield towards 5.34 per cent strengthened the relative appeal of dollar assets and raised the valuation hurdle for emerging-market equities.

"With foreign investors having sold more than Rs 10,000 crore in the previous session, elevated US Treasury yields could sustain foreign selling pressure and weigh further on Indian equities," Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a Research Analyst firm, said.

"Indian equities came under heavy selling pressure on Thursday, with the Sensex declining sharply as rising crude oil prices, higher US Treasury yields and a steep slide in the rupee unsettled investors. The weakness extended beyond the benchmark indices, with midcap and smallcap stocks also ending lower," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

The sharp rebound in crude oil prices was a central source of concern, he said.

"Persistent foreign institutional selling remained another significant overhang, extending the pressure that has weighed on domestic equities through September. Elevated US Treasury yields further constrained risk appetite, keeping emerging-market assets vulnerable to global portfolio reallocation and currency pressures," Ponmudi added.

On the weekly front, the Sensex tanked 1,986.04 points, or 2.68 per cent, and the Nifty plunged 718.55 points, or 3.10 per cent.

In September, the BSE benchmark lost 4,476.98 points, or 5.81 per cent, and the Nifty fell 1,459.95 points, or 6 per cent. Equity markets will remain closed on Friday for Gandhi Jayanti.

On Wednesday, the Sensex declined 48.78 points, or 0.07 per cent, to settle at 72,480.29. The Nifty dropped 95.75 points, or 0.42 per cent, to end at 22,620.45. PTI