Sensex Today: BSE Sensex Falls 400 Points; Check Top Gainers, Losers, Key Stocks and Market Outlook

Sensex Today: Stocks of Indian benchmark indices are trading lower on Thursday, October 8, as market participants continue to be nervous following the sudden move of the Reserve Bank of India towards hawkish monetary policy and rising crude oil prices.

BSE Sensex started at 72,462.16, down 176.54 points or 0.24%, whereas Nifty 50 began the day at 22,542.00, lower by 61.05 points or 0.27%. As of 9:57 am, Sensex was 0.48% lower at 72,290.77, whereas Nifty was 0.54% lower at 22,482.10. This decline comes after sharp declines in the previous session. On October 7, Sensex closed 429.11 points or 0.59% lower at 72,638.70, whereas Nifty 50 closed 173.05 points or 0.76% lower at 22,603.05.

Why Is Sensex Down Today?

Pressure on the markets emanates from the recent monetary policy decision of RBI and the rise in crude oil prices, along with foreign investors’ selling off of their stakes. The Reserve Bank of India increased the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50% on October 7. This was the first time that the RBI hiked its repo rate since the last four years. The other change that it made was in its policy stance from neutral to “calibrated tightening”.

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An increase in interest rates can increase the cost of borrowing for firms and individuals. Also, an interest-rate sensitive industry may be affected by an interest-rate increase.  The second reason for the fall in the markets is the rise in crude oil prices. Crude oil prices rose above the $101 mark per barrel with Reuters reporting Brent at around $102.5 per barrel on Thursday morning trade due to worries over supplies from the Middle East region.

Sensex Companies List: Top 30 Stocks and Weightage

BSE Sensex is a free float market capitalization weighted index that includes the top 30 companies that are traded on the BSE. Stocks with more index weightage are influential in the changes in the movements of the stock index.

Some of the top Sensex stocks which carry significant index weightage include, Reliance industries, Bharti Airtel, HDFC bank, ICICI bank, State Bank of India, and TCS. Index weightage previously followed for the major Sensex stocks was approximately: