Sensex Plunges 876 Points as Private Banks and Crude Pressure Drag Nifty Below 22,900

Indian equity benchmarks snapped their two-day winning streak on Monday, suffering a sharp sell-off as disappointing private banking earnings and soaring oil prices battered investor sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 876.37 points, or 1.17 percent, to settle at 73,852.90, while the broader NSE Nifty 50 shed 257.20 points to close below the psychological threshold at 22,888.95.

The financial sector led the retreat, with Axis Bank diving 3.85 percent after its Q2 corporate earnings failed to match street expectations. HDFC Bank and IT giant Infosys also faced aggressive profit booking, compounding the downward momentum.

Adding to the domestic headwinds, geopolitical friction pushed Brent crude above $108 a barrel, fueling intense macroeconomic concerns for the import-dependent nation.

"The escalation of tensions and the consequent surge in crude act as a strong headwind to the market," noted V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. "Unfavorable large-cap valuations mean foreign institutional investor inflows are unlikely to sustain given these macro pressures."

Except for a resilient PSU Bank index, all sectoral indices closed deeply in the red as the advance-decline ratio hit a stark 1:4.

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