Sensex slips 296 pts, Nifty falls below 26,100; Tata Steel, Adani Ports lead losers
At 9:17 am, the BSE Sensex was down 285.28 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 85,347.40 after sliding nearly 296 points in early trade
- Nov 21, 2025,
- Updated Nov 21, 2025 9:24 AM IST
Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened lower on Thursday, set to break their two-day winning streak as weakness across global markets weighed on sentiment. A sharp sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks, coupled with mixed US labour market data, has dampened risk appetite.
At 9:17 am, the BSE Sensex was down 285.28 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 85,347.40 after sliding nearly 296 points in early trade, while the NSE Nifty50 fell 89.75 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 26,102.40, having briefly hit a day’s low of 26,094.45.
Among Sensex constituents, Tata Steel led the declines, slipping 1.16 per cent to Rs 170.45. Adani Ports dropped 0.84 per cent, while HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank, and Eternal fell 0.80 per cent, 0.71 per cent, and 0.62 per cent, respectively.
Wall Street finished lower overnight, with all three major US indices closing in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.84 per cent to 45,752.26, while the S&P 500 fell 1.56 per cent to 6,538.76. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.15 per cent to settle at 22,078.05.
Asian markets traded lower on Friday. At last check, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 2.35 per cent to 48,653.80, while South Korea’s KOSPI was down 3.92 per cent to 3,847.86. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also fell 2.24 per cent to 25,257.31.
The Sensex advanced 446.21 points, or 0.52 per cent, to close at 85,632.68 on Thursday, while the Nifty50 gained 139.50 points, or 0.54 per cent, to end at 26,192.15.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said market volatility has surged, with the Nasdaq — the bellwether of the AI-driven trade — sliding 2.15 per cent on Thursday and plunging 4.4 per cent from its intraday peak.
Vijayakumar said this kind of market movement signals that more volatility may be ahead. “While there are valuation concerns in AI stocks with many experts warning of a bubble burst, the Nvidia CEO disagreed with this cautionary warning with the statement “we see a different picture characterised by sustainable rise of advanced AI systems.” At lower valuations, fresh buying may again emerge in AI stocks. We will have to wait and see how this volatile phase unfolds,” Vijayakumar said.
“There is excessive speculative trading in many stocks in India, particularly in some newly listed stocks. Retail investors had better avoid such speculative trades, which usually end in tears for the vast majority. The ideal investment strategy now would be to buy fairly-valued high quality stocks on declines and wait patiently. Since India has been an under-performer in this year’s AI trade, India will benefit if the AI trade fades and money starts flowing into non-AI stocks in counties like India. But a big crash would impact all markets. So wait and watch how things unfold,” Vijayakumar added.
Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened lower on Thursday, set to break their two-day winning streak as weakness across global markets weighed on sentiment. A sharp sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks, coupled with mixed US labour market data, has dampened risk appetite.
At 9:17 am, the BSE Sensex was down 285.28 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 85,347.40 after sliding nearly 296 points in early trade, while the NSE Nifty50 fell 89.75 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 26,102.40, having briefly hit a day’s low of 26,094.45.
Among Sensex constituents, Tata Steel led the declines, slipping 1.16 per cent to Rs 170.45. Adani Ports dropped 0.84 per cent, while HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank, and Eternal fell 0.80 per cent, 0.71 per cent, and 0.62 per cent, respectively.
Wall Street finished lower overnight, with all three major US indices closing in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.84 per cent to 45,752.26, while the S&P 500 fell 1.56 per cent to 6,538.76. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.15 per cent to settle at 22,078.05.
Asian markets traded lower on Friday. At last check, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 2.35 per cent to 48,653.80, while South Korea’s KOSPI was down 3.92 per cent to 3,847.86. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also fell 2.24 per cent to 25,257.31.
The Sensex advanced 446.21 points, or 0.52 per cent, to close at 85,632.68 on Thursday, while the Nifty50 gained 139.50 points, or 0.54 per cent, to end at 26,192.15.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said market volatility has surged, with the Nasdaq — the bellwether of the AI-driven trade — sliding 2.15 per cent on Thursday and plunging 4.4 per cent from its intraday peak.
Vijayakumar said this kind of market movement signals that more volatility may be ahead. “While there are valuation concerns in AI stocks with many experts warning of a bubble burst, the Nvidia CEO disagreed with this cautionary warning with the statement “we see a different picture characterised by sustainable rise of advanced AI systems.” At lower valuations, fresh buying may again emerge in AI stocks. We will have to wait and see how this volatile phase unfolds,” Vijayakumar said.
“There is excessive speculative trading in many stocks in India, particularly in some newly listed stocks. Retail investors had better avoid such speculative trades, which usually end in tears for the vast majority. The ideal investment strategy now would be to buy fairly-valued high quality stocks on declines and wait patiently. Since India has been an under-performer in this year’s AI trade, India will benefit if the AI trade fades and money starts flowing into non-AI stocks in counties like India. But a big crash would impact all markets. So wait and watch how things unfold,” Vijayakumar added.