BSE Sensex slid 1,142 points to 71,600 on Thursday, its steepest one‑day drop since 2003, erasing ₹6 lakh crore of market cap. The index fell 1.02%, marking the longest losing streak in almost a quarter‑century as foreign investors sold $1.06 bn of equity.
Foreign institutional investors, the biggest sell‑side force, dumped ₹10,148 crore in equity on September 30 alone, bringing five‑day sales to $3.6 bn and a year‑to‑date outflow of $27.8 bn – the highest ever. V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, said the pace could tighten as U.S. yields climb.
U.S. Treasury yields surged, with the 10‑year benchmark hitting 5.31%, a 5‑year high, after a rise of 87 basis points in September – the largest quarterly gain since 1994. The 30‑year yield topped 5.65%, the highest since 2002, pushing debt assets back into favor and pressuring equity risk‑seeking investors.
The rupee slipped 0.16% to 95.9850 per dollar, the first dip below 96 in more than a month, as the dollar index climbed to a three‑month high. Brent crude edged up 1.87% to $99.86, while WTI rose 2.01% to $92.24, reinforcing the link between global energy prices and Indian market sentiment.
Heavyweights such as Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and UltraTech Cement joined the sell‑off, with Maruti falling 4.93% and M&M 4.24%. The broad‑based decline dragged the BSE’s total market capitalization below ₹473 lakh crore, the lowest since 1998.
With the market closed for a holiday on Friday, traders are bracing for a cautious start to the week. Analysts expect the RBI to keep policy unchanged, while companies will report Q4 earnings next week; any upside could hinge on the pace of foreign selling and the trajectory of U.S. yields.