Top Performers and Laggards on May 12: Market Review Reveals Declines for Kalyan Jewellers, Adani Power, Anant Raj, Tata Motors, BEML, and UPL

India's Stock Market Plunges to Worst Intraday Decline in Over a Month

The Indian stock market continued its downward trend on Tuesday, May 12, as investors became increasingly anxious about the prolonged oil shock and its potential impact on the economy. The fragile negotiations to end the Iran war also weighed heavily on sentiment, leading to a broad-based selloff across various sectors.

The benchmark indices, the Nifty 50 and the S&P BSE Sensex, suffered significant losses, with the Nifty 50 plunging 1.83% and breaching the 24,000 mark to settle at 23,379. The S&P BSE Sensex also tumbled 2% to end at 74,559. The broader markets faced even heavier selling pressure, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 index crashing 3.12% and the Nifty Midcap 100 closing the session with a sharp 2.51% decline.

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All major sectoral indices ended deep in the red, led by Nifty Realty, which fell 4%, followed by Nifty IT and Nifty Consumer Durables, which dropped 3.75% and 3.59%, respectively.

The selloff was also driven by concerns about the potential impact of elevated crude oil prices on the domestic economy. Sentiment weakened further after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged a spate of austerity measures aimed at conserving the country's foreign exchange reserves. India is reportedly considering emergency measures to shore up foreign exchange reserves, including curbing non-essential imports such as gold and electronic goods and raising fuel prices to cushion the economy from the fallout of the Iran war.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose for a third straight session, with Brent reclaiming the $115 a barrel mark. Tech, EV, jewellery, and realty stocks were among the worst performers, with large- and mid-cap technology stocks declining between 3.1% and 9%. Among the losers were Sonata Software, Netweb Technologies, Birlasoft, and Firstsource Solutions, which fell 9%, 6.5%, 6.4%, and 4.55%, respectively.

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EV stocks also reversed their recent gains, with Olectra Greentech, Ola Electric Mobility, and Ather Energy falling 7.3%, 5%, and 4.6%, respectively. Jewellery stocks witnessed another round of selling pressure, with Kalyan Jewellers India falling 6% to ₹361.80 apiece, while Titan Company tanked 3.5%. Real estate stocks also closed with deep losses, as Anant Raj, Lodha Developers, Godrej Properties, Phoenix Mills, Aditya Birla Real Estate, and Brigade Enterprises all fell over 4%.

However, some stocks managed to buck the trend, with Oil India and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation surging 7.7% and 4.8%, respectively, after brokerage CLSA termed the government's royalty cuts on crude oil and gas production as a significant positive for both companies. Other top gainers included Biocon, Brainbees Solutions, Afcons Infrastructure, Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc, Godrej Consumer Products, and Anthem Biosciences, all of which closed with gains of over 2%.