September rout spills into October; Sensex hits fresh 52-week low, Nifty nears yearly trough

Indian shares plunged on Thursday, October 1, with the Sensex hit fresh 52-week low and the Nifty 50 neared the 52-week low level after a bout of intense selling in the late afternoon trade.

The Sensex plunged 840 points or 1.16% to close at 71,639.98 on Thursday. The market touched an intraday low of 71,527.98. The index had previously hit a 52-week low of 71,545.81, making Thursday trading session the new low for the year.

The index was down 288.55 points, or 1.28%, to 22,331.90, as it touched a low of 22,301.30. The index continues to hold above its 52-week low of 22,182.55, but is now just 119 odd points away from that mark.

The intraday uptrend was sharp. The Sensex had touched 72,572.90 and the Nifty had hit 22,610.60 before the profit-taking caught up.

Autos, metals take the biggest hit

Within that sell-off cyclical sectors were hit hardest.

The Nifty Auto was down by 4.22%, Nifty Metal 2.74%. Realty, FMCG and commodities were also down 2.16%, 1.86% and 2.14% respectively.

Nifty 50 stocks Bajaj Auto was the biggest loser among Nifty 50 stocks with a 7.48% decline, followed by Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra at 4.81% and 4.32%, respectively. Meanwhile, Adani Ports, Shriram Finance and Eicher Motors shed between 3.74% and 3.89%.

Tata Steel was down 3.52% while Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles declined 2.91%.

The broader market was not spared as well. Nifty Midcap 150 lost 1.67% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 lost 1.85%. Nifty 500 was down 1.50%.

The Nifty 50 has fallen 7.14% in the last 30 days and 10.06% in the past one year, whereas the Midcap 150 has declined 7.53% in the same one month.

IT and select banks buck the trend

There were some bands of respite in the selloff. Nifty IT index rose 0.46% and among the Nifty stocks some that were trading higher were HDFC Bank, Infosys, HDFC Life and SBI Life.

The market was also supported by heavy buying in HDFC Life 1.87%, Infosys 1.17% and HDFC Bank 1.12%.

Volatility also rose sharply, with the India VIX up 11.3% to 15.02, implying heightened market uncertainty.

The Nifty India Corporate Group Index – Tata Group 25% Cap, which tracks 10 listed Tata Group companies, fell over 2%.

Since the Sensex has already breached its erstwhile 52-week low and the Nifty is floating quite close to its own annual low, the Thursday session marks a big escalation in the ongoing correction. The breadth of the decline—particularly across autos, metals and the broader market—suggests that selling pressure has extended well beyond the headline indices.