Stock market crash: The BSE Sensex nosedived 1,450 points from the day’s highest level and the Nifty 50 index dropped below 22,400 after hitting a record high of 22,795 earlier in the session as investors turned to profit booking, analysts said. 

Selling pressure was so intense that all the sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange were trading lower with the Nifty Realty index falling 1.27 per cent. 

Broader markets were also facing the heat of selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index dropped 0.51 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index tumbled 0.79 per cent.

Heavyweights like Reliance Industries (down by 2.67 per cent), Bharti Airtel (down by 3.04 per cent), JSW Steel (2.22 per cent), and Nestle India (down by 2.22 per cent) and Maruti Suzuki (down by 2.12 per cent) were seen pulling down the market. 

The Nifty 50 index had only four gainers as of 01:23 pm that included Coal India, Bajaj Finance, Grasim, and ONGC. While BSE Sensex had only three gainers that includes Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, and Mahindra and Mahindra.

The Coal India shares were trading at 3.16 per cent higher at Rs 468.25 as of 01:33, driven by strong Q4 results. The PSU major recorded a 26 per cent rise in Q4 net profit up to Rs 8,682 crore while the net profit of the company stood at Rs 6,875.07 crore.

Bajaj Auto was also trading at Rs 9,134, a minor uptick of 0.26 per cent, led by the launch of the new Pulsar NS400Z, the company’s flagship two-wheeler. Available at the price of Rs 1.85 lakh, the newly launched Pulsar will compete with Triumph Speed 400, KTM 390 Duke, Hero Mavrick 440, BMW G310R and TVS Apache RR310. 

Overall market breadth was extremely negative as 1,283 shares were gaining while 2,439 were declining on the BSE.