Sensex below 72,150 mark; Nifty wipes out 1,047 pts; realty shares under pressure

The frontline indices traded with major losses in early afternoon trade, mirroring a global market rout driven by escalating trade tensions and mounting recession fears in the United States. The Nifty dropped below the 21,900 level. Realty shares extended losses for the third consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slumped 3,227.05 points or 4.28% to 72,137.64. The Nifty 50 index tanked 1,047.45 points or 4.58% to 21,855.85.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index dropped 4.61% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index tumbled 5.96%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 342 shares rose and 3,582 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, climbed 65.41% to 22.75.

Economy:

India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves jumped $6.596 billion to $665.396 billion during the week ended March 28, according to the latest data from the RBI.

For the week ended March 28, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $6.158 billion to $565.014 billion, the RBI data released on Friday showed.

Gold reserves increased by $519 million to $77.793 billion during the week ended March 28. The special drawing rights (SDRs) were down by $65 million to $18.176 billion, the RBI said.

India's reserve position with the IMF was also down by $16 million at $4.413 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, climbed 65.41% to 22.75. The Nifty 24 April 2025 futures were trading at 21,910, at a premium of 54.15 points as compared with the spot at 21,855.85.

The Nifty option chain for the 24 April 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 29.3 lakh contracts at the 22,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 42.7 lakh contracts was seen at 22,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index dropped 5.48% to 777.95. The index tumbled 8.97% in three consecutive trading sessions.

Anant Raj (down 9%), Sobha (down 7.8%), Godrej Properties (down 6.78%), Raymond (down 6.5%), DLF (down 6.24%), Brigade Enterprises (down 5.04%), Prestige Estates Projects (down 4.92%), Oberoi Realty (down 4.42%), Macrotech Developers (down 4.31%) and Phoenix Mills (down 1.28%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Trent took a tumble today, with its stock nosediving 16.89%, after investors were left underwhelmed by its Q4 business update.

The Tata Group-backed brand posted Q4FY25 revenue of Rs 4,334 crore, up 28% year-on-year (YoY). This growth is lower than its five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36%. It is also behind Trent's 39% annual revenue growth in FY25 at Rs 17,624 crore.

Jubilant FoodWorks declined 4.20%. The company's consolidated revenue from operations was at Rs 2,107 crore in Q4 FY25, jumped 33.9% year-on-year.

Utkarsh Small Finance Bank fell 3.56%. The bank has reported a 7.47% rise in gross loan portfolio to Rs 19,666 crore as on 31 March 2025, compared with Rs 18,299 crore as on 31 March 2024.

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