Bears tighten grip on markets; Nifty slips below 24,650

Bears continued to dominate the stock market on Friday, dragging the Nifty below 24,650 intraday as selling pressure intensified across sectors, particularly in pharma and IT stocks. IT counters tumbled following a weak growth outlook from Accenture.

Pharma shares were among the worst hit, falling between 4–7% after US President Trump announced a 100% tariff on imports of branded or patented drugs starting October 1. Laurus Labs, Biocon, and Zydus Life were the top losers, slipping 4–7%, while Sun Pharma recorded the largest trading volume among drugmakers, closing 2.6% lower.

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At the close, the Sensex fell 733.22 points, or 0.90%, to 80,426.46, while the Nifty ended 236.15 points, or 0.95%, lower at 24,654.70.

Broader indices underperformed the benchmarks, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices shedding 2% each. For the week, both the Sensex and Nifty dropped 2.6%. The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slipped to nearly ₹450.8 lakh crore from ₹457.4 lakh crore in the previous session.

All sectoral indices ended in the red. Nifty IT declined the most at 2.45%, followed by Nifty Pharma (down 2.14%), Metal (down 1.93%), and PSU Bank (down 1.78%). Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Auto, and Realty fell around 1% each, while FMCG lost 0.5%.

On the Nifty50, only six stocks ended in positive territory. L&T gained 2.71%, Tata Motors rose 1.45%, and ITC added 1.22% to emerge as the top gainers. Meanwhile, 44 stocks ended in the red, with IndusInd Bank falling 3.88%, M&M losing 3.68%, and Tata Steel down 2.92%.

More than 140 stocks hit their 52-week lows on the BSE, including Crompton Greaves Consumer Electrical, Sun Pharma, Praj Industries, Petronet LNG, Five-Star Business Finance, IRB Infra, TCS, Vedant Fashions, and Ramkrishna Forgings. Over 120 stocks, however, touched new 52-week highs, including TVS Electronics, PVV Infra, Lumax Industries, Banco Products, Balaji Telefilms, Maruti Suzuki, JSW Steel, and Usha Martin.