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Sensex tanks 500 points: What's behind today's decline?
19 Jan 2026

The Indian equity benchmarks opened nearly 0.5% lower on Monday, dragged down by weak global cues and continued foreign fund selling.

At the time of writing, the Sensex was down by over 500 points at 83,061 while Nifty slipped to around 25,525 after declining by 169 points.

The market breadth was negative with declines outpacing advances, indicating broad-based caution at the start of this week.

Nifty's support zone and market volatility
Market analysis

Technical analysts are watching the 25,600-25,500 support zone for Nifty in the near term. A sustained break below this band could open doors to deeper cuts.

Any recovery is likely to face stiff resistance near 25,900-26,000.

"The current market formation is volatile and non-directional, and this is likely to continue in the near future," said Shrikant Chouhan of Kotak Securities.

Sectoral performance and global cues
Market sectors

In early trade, IT stocks were under pressure with Wipro leading the decline. However, select banking and consumption names saw buying.

The Bank Nifty held relatively better due to strength in heavyweight lenders.

Global cues remained unsupportive as Asian equities fell amid fresh geopolitical jitters while US markets ended lower on Friday ahead of a long weekend due to cautious investor sentiment at the start of earnings season.

Institutional flows and market volatility
Investor behavior

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth over ₹4,300 crore on Friday while domestic institutions remained net buyers.

VK Vijayakumar of Geojit Investments warned markets could remain volatile in the near term as geopolitical and geoeconomic developments unfold.

He also said long-term investors may use sharp market swings to selectively accumulate high-quality large-cap stocks at reasonable valuations.