The stock market was braced for another shock on Monday. Within just 10 minutes of opening, investors’ hard-earned money, totaling over ₹15 lakh crore, vanished into thin air. Sharp declines in Sensex and Nifty inflicted heavy losses on all investors, both small and large, old and new.
Within minutes, the market cap saw a massive reduction of lakhs of crores, causing chaos on Dalal Street. This downturn is not just limited to numbers; it directly impacts the hopes, savings, and dreams of millions of families.
Now, the question is: which stocks plummeted the most, what are the reasons behind it, and what are the future prospects? Let’s explore the major stocks that inflicted the most damage on investors this time and forced the market to face this major shock.
Massive Decline in Market Cap
During Monday morning’s session, the market cap of BSE-listed companies dropped from ₹450 lakh crore to ₹438 lakh crore. This means that investors’ portfolios saw a substantial reduction of approximately ₹12 lakh crore, indicating the amount investors lost.
Sharp Decline in Shares of Oil Marketing Companies
Due to escalating conflict in West Asia and a sharp surge in crude oil prices, shares of oil marketing companies and paint manufacturers faced significant pressure during Monday morning’s trading.
Oil companies were particularly hard hit:
- Shares of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited fell by 8.67%
- Shares of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited fell by 8.43%
- Shares of Indian Oil Corporation Limited dropped by 7.29%
- Large-cap category stocks delivered a strong blow
Several major stocks in BSE’s large-cap category tumbled with sharp declines during Monday morning’s session. These included:
- Indigo: 8%
- SBI: 5.90%
- Tata Steel: 4.99%
- Asian Paints: 4.71%
- LT: 4.7%
- Maruti: 4.67%
- Axis Bank: 4.02%
- Adani Ports: 3.80%
Meanwhile, mid-cap stocks also witnessed significant declines:
- Hindustan Petroleum: 7.20%
- Ashok Leyland: 5.10%
- Federal Bank: 4.60%
- Bharat Forge: 4.50%
- Paytm: 4.40%
- IDFC First Bank: 3.80%
- Stock Market in Chaos
By Monday noon, at one point, the BSE Sensex was trading at 77,118.01, down by 1800.89 points. Meanwhile, NSE Nifty was trading at 23,886.65, with a massive fall of 563.8 points.
Expert Opinion on the Market
Stock market expert Sunil Shah states that sustained growth in the market will be difficult until crude oil prices return to around $75 and the situation in West Asia calms down or a resolution is reached. He also mentioned that intermittent technical rebounds (small bounces) might be observed, but the market’s underlying trend (undertone) remains weak, i.e., bearish.
According to Sunil Shah, India imports approximately 70–75% of its energy needs. Therefore, an increase in energy prices directly impacts the country’s GDP growth.
He further added that if GDP growth does not align with estimates, it also affects Corporate India. This impacts companies’ earnings (corporate earnings) and top line.
If inflation rises due to high energy prices and corporate earnings decline, it will directly impact the stock market, and a downturn may be observed.
