Sensex, Nifty fall for fourth consecutive day; key reasons behind the slump

Benchmark stock market indices dropped in the afternoon session, with the Sensex experiencing a notable decline due to weak earnings reports and foreign outflows.
The S&P BSE Sensex lost 659.08 points to 78,837.07, while the NSE Nifty50 was down 205.35 points to 23,935.95 as of 2:15 PM.
In today’s trading session on the Nifty 50, Trent emerged as the top gainer, advancing by 1.47%, followed by HCL Technologies which rose 0.94%. IT major Infosys showed positive momentum with a gain of 0.85%, while Sun Pharma moved up by 0.71%. Reliance Industries added 0.44% to round off the gainers.
On the declining side, Britannia Industries faced the steepest fall of 7.02%, while HDFC Bank dropped significantly by 2.83%. Power major NTPC declined by 2.76%, followed by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) which fell 2.52%. Asian Paints completed the top losers list with a decline of 2.42%.
Most sectoral indices traded in negative territory, with Nifty Metal facing the steepest decline of 4.82%. Financial sectors showed broad weakness with Nifty Financial Services falling 1.56%, Nifty Financial Services 25/50 dropping 1.43%, Nifty Bank declining 1.27%, and Nifty Private Bank down 1.08%.
The auto sector also faced pressure with Nifty Auto sliding 1.39%, while Nifty PSU Bank fell by 1.39%. Nifty FMCG declined 1.30%, and Nifty Consumer Durables dropped 1.02%. Other sectors in the red included Nifty Oil & Gas (-0.46%), Nifty Pharma (-0.42%), Nifty Media (-0.38%), and Nifty Healthcare Index (-0.37%), while Nifty Midsmall Healthcare showed a marginal decline of 0.06%.
Only two sectors managed to stay in positive territory – Nifty IT showing resilience with a gain of 0.48%, and Nifty Realty advancing by 0.77%. The widespread declines across most sectors indicate a challenging trading session with significant selling pressure.