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Sensex plunges 750 points: What is dragging stock market down?
23 Jan 2026

The Indian stock market witnessed a major downturn on Friday, with the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty falling sharply.

The Sensex opened at 82,335.94 and hit an intraday high of 82,516.27 in early trade. However, profit-booking at higher levels pushed the index into negative territory.

At around 1:40pm the 30-share index was trading at 81,562.77 after losing nearly 750 points or 1% from its previous close.

Nifty slips below 25,100 amid profit-booking
Market trends

The broader Nifty index also witnessed a similar trend, slipping below the 200-day moving average to 25,062.

The index has so far traded between an intraday high of 25,347.95 and low of 25,056.20.

Major laggards in the Nifty50 pack included Zomato and Blinkit's parent company Eternal, InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) and SBI Life Insurance Company with losses up to 3%.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Hindalco Industries gained up to 3% each.

Foreign fund outflows and weak corporate earnings impact market
Investor sentiment

The persistent foreign fund outflows have been weighing on investor sentiment.

On Thursday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth ₹2,549.80 crore, marking the 13th consecutive session of net selling in January.

Dr VK Vijayakumar of Geojit Investments said "the FII stance toward India will be determined by the trend in India's corporate earnings."

He added that higher earnings growth alone can ensure sustained buying by FIIs since they have other markets to invest in with cheaper valuations and better earnings.

Weak corporate earnings and rising crude oil prices
Market challenges

Rising crude oil prices further capped gains with Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rising 0.8% to $64.57 per barrel.

Higher crude prices tend to widen India's trade deficit and stoke inflation concerns which can weigh on equities.

Adani Group stocks under pressure amid SEC investigation
Regulatory scrutiny

A huge selling pressure was seen in Adani Group stocks after a report that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a US court for permission to personally email summons to billionaire Gautam Adani and group executive Sagar Adani over alleged fraud and a $265-million bribery scheme.