Markets fell for a third straight session on Tuesday, as both BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 reversed sharply after touching record highs.
The downside was triggered primarily by profit-booking, especially in heavyweight financial stocks such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. All focus now shifts to the upcoming RBI policy outcome expected this week.
Additionally, a weak currency — the rupee slumping to fresh lows — and tepid foreign flows dented sentiment, prompting investors to pare back risk.
Sensex tanked 503.63 points or 0.59 per cent to end at 85,138.27, and Nifty 50 depreciated by 143.55 points or 0.55 per cent to 26,032.20. This followed an intraday fall of 500 points (Sensex) and 157 points (Nifty 50).
On the sectoral front, a majority of them closed in the negative territory, with private banks and financial services leading the decline
Markets may remain range-bound as investors await the RBI’s monetary policy decision later this week, balancing the optimism of high GDP growth against thereality of slowing industrial output, Abhinav Tiwari, Research Analyst at Bonanza, said.
FIIs offloaded equities worth ₹1,171.31 crore on Monday, while DIIs bought stocks worth ₹2,558.93 crore, exchange data shows. According to Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, the FIIs selling has gathered pace, offloading over ₹6,000 crore worth of Indian equities in the past three sessions.
Meanwhile, Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments, stressed that the NSE’s sectoral index overhaul in line with SEBI regulations led to corrections in major banking counters.
“In the near term, fading expectations of an RBI rate cut owing to strong GDP data and the uncertainty around US–India trade discussions may keep investors on edge. Even so, solid domestic macro fundamentals and a strengthening earnings outlook for the second half of the fiscal year are likely to lend support going forward,” Nair said.
Stressing that the markets may remain in consolidation mode, Siddhartha Khemka – Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said, “investors will track comments from the US Federal Reserve and JOLTS jobs data today, followed by US non-farm payrolls and India’s Services PMI tomorrow.”
Top gainers & losers of Nifty 50 today
Asian Paints, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel and Trent emerged as top gainers of Nifty 50, while InterGlobe Aviation, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank dragged the most.
Market breadth remained weak, with 4,316 stocks traded on the BSE, of whcih 1,586 shares advanced, while a larger 2,563 declined and 167 were unchanged. About 106 stocks managed to hit their 52-week highs, compared with a significantly higher 249 that slipped to 52-week lows. Meanwhile, 9 stocks were locked in the upper circuit and 7 in the lower circuit.
Midcap & smallcap movers
Under the mid-cap segment, Hitachi Energy, Vodafone Idea, Swiggy, KEI and Glenmark soared 2 per cent, while Indian Bank, Coromandel International, 360 One WAM, NTPC Green and HDFC AMC declined 2-3 per cent.
Smallcap stocks Natco Pharma, Gland Pharma, KEC, Whirlpool and Angel One rose up to 3 per cent, while GRSE, Anant Raj, Go Digit and HBL Engineering fell 3-4 per cent.
Global markets
Asian markets, except Shanghai’s SSE Composite index, settled in positive territory.
US markets ended lower on Monday.
On Monday, BSE Sensex pared early gains and ended at 85,641.90 after hitting a record intra-day high of 86,159.02. Nifty 50 settled at 26,175.75 after opening at a lifetime high of 26,325.80.
Published on December 2, 2025
