Sensex, Nifty 50 end in the red; mid, small-caps underperform— 10 key highlights of stock market today

Frontline indices- the Sensex and the Nifty 50- closed in the red on Wednesday, March 12, on losses led by IT heavyweights, including Infosys, TCS and HCL Tech.

The Sensex closed 73 points, or 0.10 per cent, lower at 74,029.76, while the Nifty 50 closed at 22,470.50, down 27 points, or 0.12 per cent.

The mid and small-cap segments underperformed the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap slipped 0.57 per cent, while the Smallcap index ended 0.48 per cent lower.

The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms dropped below ₹393 lakh crore from over ₹394 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors lose more than a lakh crore in a single session.

Stock market today: 10 key highlights

Here are 10 key highlights of the Indian stock market today:

1. What drove the Indian stock market down today?

The market is struggling to shrug off the persisting concerns of US President Donald Trump's tariff policies and their impact on the global economy. Foreign capital outflow, concerns over economic growth losing momentum and rupee's depreciation have kept the market under pressure.

"Persistent uncertainties surrounding global trade and the fear of a US recession continue to influence the domestic market's momentum," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"Despite the stabilisation in valuation to the five-year average and signs of improvement in urban and rural demand, investor risk appetite remains subdued. Today's key concern is whether the ongoing correction happening in the US market can spill over to the global market," said Nair.

2. Top drags on Nifty 50

Shares of Infosys, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and HCL Tech ended as the top drags on the Nifty 50.

However, shares of Infosys (down 4.26 per cent), Wipro (down 3.31 per cent), Tech Mahindra (down 2.77 per cent), Nestle (down 2.48 per cent), TCS (down 1.93 per cent) and HCL Tech (down 1.74 per cent) ended as the top losers in the index. As many as 31 stocks ended in the red in the index.

3. Top Nifty 50 gainers

Shares of IndusInd Bank (up 4.38 per cent), Tata Motors (up 3.12 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 2.45 per cent) and Bajaj Finance (up 1.73 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the index.

4. Sectoral indices today: Nifty IT sheds 3%

Nifty IT index suffered a solid loss of 2.91 per cent, with all stocks in the red. IT stocks have been under pressure amid growing concerns of a recession in the US market.

Nifty Realty, Media and PSU Bank lost 1.65 per cent, 1.53 per cent and 1.08 per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, Nifty Bank rose 0.42 per cent, while Private Bank rose 0.73 per cent.

4. Sectoral indices today: Nifty IT sheds 3%

Nifty IT index suffered a solid loss of 2.91 per cent, with all stocks in the red. IT stocks have been under pressure amid growing concerns of a recession in the US market.

Nifty Realty, Media and PSU Bank lost 1.65 per cent, 1.53 per cent and 1.08 per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, Nifty Bank rose 0.42 per cent, while Private Bank rose 0.73 per cent.

5. Most active stocks in terms of volume

Vodafone Idea (53.94 crore shares), IndusInd Bank (10.87 crore shares), Zomato (8 crore shares), Jaiprakash Power Ventures (7.95 crore shares), YES Bank (7.93 crore shares) and GTL Infra (5.71 crore shares) were the most active stocks in terms of volume on the NSE.

6. Over 60 stocks hit 52-week highs

Some 63 stocks, including Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sarda Energy & Minerals and Welspun Corp, hit fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade on the BSE.

7. Over 250 stocks at 52-week low

As many as 274 stocks, including IndusInd Bank, Titan, Dr Reddys Laboratories, LTIMindtree and YES Bank, hit their fresh 52-week lows in intraday trade on the BSE.

8. Stocks that rose over 10% on NSE

Seven stocks- SEPC (up 20 per cent), CARYSIL (up 19.99 per cent), OCCL (up 16.56 per cent), Union Mutual Fund - Union Gold ETF (up 13.23 per cent), India Tourism Development Corporation (up 12.46 per cent), NACL Industries (up 12.32 per cent) and Redtape (up 10.39 per cent)- rose more than 10 per cent on the NSE.

9. Stocks that crashed over 8%

Industrial Investment Trust (down 9.99 per cent), Indegene (down 9.52 per cent), Compucom Software (down 9.30 per cent), Cinevista (down 8.82 per cent) and Coastal Corporation (down 8.68 per cent) were the five stocks that lost more than 8 per cent on the NSE.

10. Advance-decline ratio

The advance-decline ratio tilted heavily towards the decliners as some 993 stocks advanced, while 1,830 declined on the NSE on March 12. This means for every advancing stock, nearly two stocks declined.

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