Stock market today: Sensex trades choppy, Nifty holds above 25,750; IT index plunges 6%

Indian equity benchmarks paused on Wednesday after the sharp rally in the previous session sparked by the India–US trade agreement.

The deal, which cut US tariffs on Indian exports to 18 per cent from 50 per cent, had lifted sentiment and eased a key uncertainty, but markets turned cautious as investors moved to book profits.

Weakness in information technology stocks added to the pressure.

In early trade, the BSE Sensex hovered around 83,430, down 309 points or 0.37 per cent, while the Nifty 50 slipped 65 points, or 0.25 per cent, to trade near 25,663.

The broader market also saw mild selling. The Nifty MidCap index declined 0.48 per cent, while the Nifty SmallCap index was down 0.18 per cent.

IT stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off, with the Nifty IT index plunging over 5.5 per cent. Heavyweights such as Persistent Systems, LTIMindtree, Infosys, HCL Tech, Coforge, TCS, Mphasis and Tech Mahindra all traded sharply lower.

Global cues

Overnight, US equities ended in the red as investors rotated out of technology stocks into more economically sensitive sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.34 per cent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.84 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.43 per cent.

Asian markets were mixed in early trade on Wednesday amid a lack of strong cues. China’s CSI 300 declined 0.29 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.05 per cent, and Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.61 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi, however, gained 0.54 per cent.

In commodities, spot gold rose more than 1 per cent to $5,002 per ounce, while spot silver climbed 0.69 per cent to $85.70 per ounce.

On the macro front, investors are awaiting the final S&P Global/HSBC composite and services PMI data for January from India and Japan later in the day.