Sensex: Sensex below 75,000: Slowdown worries in US weigh on Asia

Extending losses to the fifth straight session, the Sensex closed below 75,000 for the first time since June 2024. It declined 856 points, or 1.14%, to end at 74,454. NSE’s Nifty fell 242 points, or 1.06%, to close at 22,553. Both indices have now fallen over 5% this year.

NSE’s IT and Metal indices were the top losers on Monday. Foreign portfolio investors net sold shares worth ₹6,287 crore. Domestic institutions were buyers to the tune of ₹5,185.65 crore.

“The IT sector was the major contributor to Monday’s fall as the weak macro data in the US has led to the expectations of an economic slowdown, which weakened the sentiment for Indian IT companies,” said Sunny Agrawal, head of research at SBI Securities.

He said the Nifty has cracked below a crucial support of 22,800.

Asian markets ended weak Monday after US indices fell 1.5-2.2% Friday – posting their biggest fall of 2025 – after economic data showed weakness. China declined 0.2%, Hong Kong fell 0.6%, South Korea declined 0.35% and Taiwan dropped 0.7%.At home, Nifty Midcap 150 dropped 1% and Nifty Smallcap 250 fell 1.2% Monday. Out of the total 4,200 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,157 advanced and 2,879 declined at close.“The market has been in a free fall as there is a lack of buying new stocks, due to uncertainty about the direction of global factors, and until there are some positive triggers, the indices may continue trading sideways.” said Apurva Sheth, head of research at Samco Securities. Sheth said the market breadth is already in the oversold territory with only 14.2% of stocks out of the Nifty 500 now trading above their 40-week moving average, compared to 20% in June 2022. NSE’s Volatility Index, or VIX, popularly known as a fear indicator of the market, fell 0.6% to 14.44 levels on Monday.

“A relief rally is expected as we enter the next series. We would suggest investors buy precious metals, focus on large caps and continue their SIPs at this stage,” said Sheth. Agrawal said the cement sector provides a good contrarian bet at this time, along with hotels and auto ancillaries, which are providing valuation comfort and a better outlook at this point.