Sensex, Nifty close lower after five sessions: Key factors behind the market crash today

Benchmark indices ended lower on Friday after five sessions of gains. Sensex closed 609 points lower at 73,730 and Nifty lost 150 points to end at 22,419 today. Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 404.46 lakh crore. Bajaj twins, IndusInd Bank, Nestle, Kotak Bank, M&M, JSW Steel were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 7.73 per cent. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 22 ended in red. On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, ITC, Ultratech Cement, Titan and Axis Bank were the only Sensex gainers, rising up to 7.34%.

BSE banking and auto indices ended 387 pts and 125 pts lower, respectively.

Market breadth was positive with 2000 stocks rising against 1782 stocks falling on BSE. 131 shares were unchanged. In the previous session, Sensex rose 486 points to 74,339 and the Nifty gained 168 pts to 22,570.

Here’s a look at factors that led the benchmark indices to close lower on Friday.

Profit-booking

Analysts attributed the fall in Indian market to profit-booking. Sensex and Nifty had closed in the green in the last five sessions. While Sensex rose 1,851 points, Nifty gained 575 pts since April 18 this year.

Weak US GDP data

The US economy logged slowest pace of economic growth in nearly two years last quarter even as inflation topped Wall Street estimates. GDP in Q1 grew at an annualized pace of 1.6% and missed the 2.5% growth, according to Bloomberg estimates. This sent the US market in the red. While Dow Jones ended 375 pts lower at 38,085, Nasdaq slipped 101 pts to 15,611. S&P 500 lost 23.21 pts to 5048.2.

Analyst take

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said, "The unexpected surge of the US core PCE price index, accompanied by weaker-than-forecasted GDP growth and Treasury yield spikes, impacted market sentiments. Investors are concerned about the possibility of a looming recession in the US. Indian market lagged behind its Asian and European peers due to worries over lofty valuations and lacklustre Q4 earnings, fuelling expectations of downward revisions for FY25 earnings."