In the last five trading sessions the SENSEX has plunged as much as 2,360 points or 2.75% to hit low of 83,402, its lowest level since October 16 and NIFTY50 index tumbled 705 points to 25,655, its lowest level since November 3.
In intraday deals, the SENSEX fell as much as 705 points and NIFTY50 index 222 points.
Trump tariff threat
Market sentiment was badly shaken after US President Donald Trump backed a sanctions bill that could impose 500% tariffs on countries buying Russian oil, giving the White House leverage against countries like China and India to stop them from purchasing cheap oil from Moscow.
US Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday said that the legislation would give the White House “tremendous leverage” against countries like China, India and Brazil to incentivise them to stop buying cheap oil from Russia.
“After a very productive meeting today with President Trump on a variety of issues, he greenlit the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that I have been working on for months with Senator Blumenthal and many others,” Graham said in a post on X Wednesday.
“This bill would give President Trump tremendous leverage against countries like China, India and Brazil to incentivise them to stop buying the cheap Russian oil that provides the financing for Putin’s bloodbath against Ukraine,” he added.
Trump has already imposed 50% tariffs on India, among the highest in the world, including 25% levies for its purchases of Russian energy.
FPI outflows
Sustained outflows by foreign portfolio investors is also adding to pain for market participants. Foreign portfolio investors have continued their selling streak in 2026 as they have so far this month sold shares worth ₹8,080 crore. On Thursday foreign investors sold stocks worth ₹3,367 crore.
Meanwhile, investor sentiment further took a knock after December mutual fund data showed that flows into equity mutual fund (MF) inflows fell in December 2025, declining by 6.21% to ₹28,054.06 crore from ₹29,911.05 crore in November.
Inflows into gold ETFs soared 211.2% in December, rising to ₹11,646.74 crore from ₹3,741.79 crore in November. Net inflows into gold ETFs decreased by 51.6% in November, following a significant 281.9% increase in September.
Other ETFs recorded inflows of ₹13,199.44 crore in December, representing a 35.7% increase from ₹9,720.74 crore in November.
Among equity-oriented schemes, only ELSS and dividend yield funds recorded outflows in December at ₹717.73 crore and ₹254.32 crore, respectively.
Sectoral landscape
Selling pressure was broad-based as all the major sector gauges, barring the measures of IT and oil & gas indices, were trading lower dragged down by NIFTY Realty index’s nearly 3% fall. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Auto, FMCG, Pharma, Private Bank, Healthcare and Consumer Durables indices also dropped around 1% each.
Broader markets were underperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index dropped 1% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index plunged 2%.
NIFTY50 gainers and losers
Adani Enterprises was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock dropped 2.85% to close at ₹2,150. Shriram Finance, NTOC, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, Jio Financial Services, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel and Apollo Hospitals also fell between 2%-2.75%/.
On the flipside, Asian Paints, ONGC, Bharat Electronics, HCL Technologies, Cipla and Tech Mahindra were also among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 3,141 shares were trading lower while 959 trading higher on the BSE.