On December 17, Indian benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty50 experienced significant losses, extending the downturn to a second consecutive session. Sensex ended the day 1064.12 points lower, closing at 80,684.45, while Nifty50 dropped by 348 points to settle at 24,320.30.
During intra-day trading, both indices witnessed sharp declines. The BSE Sensex plunged by as much as 1,136 points, or 1.4%, hitting a low of 80,612.20, while Nifty50 shed 365 points, or 1.5%, reaching its day’s low of 24,303.45.
The major loss was driven by heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, TCS, Bharti Airtel, and HDFC Bank, which were weighed down by cautious investor sentiment ahead of the US Federal Reserve's meeting scheduled for December 18. The broader market indices showed some relative resilience, with the Nifty Midcap index and Nifty Smallcap index down 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively, indicating that mid and small-cap stocks performed slightly better than the broader market.
The ongoing selling pressure reflects uncertainty in global markets, with investors remaining watchful of upcoming policy decisions, including the Federal Reserve's meeting, which has led to cautious trading in Indian equities.
