SENSEX plunges 1,525 points, NIFTY50 falls below 24K: Geopolitical tensions and other factors dragging markets today

The Indian equity benchmarks came under free fall on Friday, April 25, amid rising geo-political tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Pahalgam terror attack. The SENSEX plunged as much as 1,525 points from its day's highest level to touch an intraday low of 78,605.81 and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 23,847.85 after hitting an intraday high of 24,365.

Rising geo-political tensions

Analysts say that rising geo-political tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of April 22 terror attack, that killed 26 tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir valley, led to sharp selloff in the equity markets after reports suggested that armies of India and Pakistan were put on high alert.

According to a report by The Hindu, amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the Indian Navy’s latest guided missile destroyer INS Surat fired a Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) against a ‘sea skimming’ target in the Western Indian Ocean. This came just before Pakistan issued a ‘Nav area’ warning for live firing in the Arabian Sea spread over a vast area parallel to a major portion of its coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Among the other measures taken by the government of India include suspending Indus Water Treaty, revoking visa of Pakistani nationals, reducing staff at Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and suspension of ceremonial parade at the Wagah Border in Amritsar.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday said any move to divert water meant for it under the Indus Water Treaty will be considered an Act of War as it announced the suspension of trade, bilateral accords, including the Simla Agreement, and airspaces with India, among other moves in retaliation to New Delhi's measures against the country in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.

The announcements were made after a meeting chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to formulate the country's response to India's move to suspend the Indus Water Treaty and downgrade diplomatic ties after the Pahalgam terror attack, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

Profit booking

Sub-par earnings reported by top companies like Axis Bank and Hindustan Unilever on Thursday also led to market participants booking profits after the sharp run up in which the benchmarks surged nearly 9%, analysts added. Axis Bank shares fell as much as 4.66% to hit an intraday low of ₹1,151 after the reported net profit of ₹7,117.50 crore in quarter ended March 2025, marking a marginal decline of 0.17% from 7,129.67 crore in the same period last year.

Axis Bank's net interest income (NII) or the difference between interest earned on loans and expended on deposits came in at ₹13,810.54 crore at the end of fourth quarter of financial year 2024-25 as against ₹13,089 in the year-ago period, showing an increase of 5.51%.

Sectoral picture

Selling pressure was broad-based as all the major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the NIFTY PSU Bank index's 2.55% fall. NIFTY Pharma, Realty, Metal, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas, Auto, Financial Services and Bank indices also fell between 2-1.2%.

Broader markets were also facing the heat of selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index fell 2.59% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index plunging nearly 3%.

NIFTY50 gainers and losers

Selloff was so intense that 46 shares in the NIFTY50 were trading lower. Axis Bank was top loser in the NIFTY50 basket of shares. Adani Enterprises (-3.62%), Adani Ports (-3.46%), Trent (-3.17%) and Jio Financial Services (-2.93%) were also among the top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

On the flipside, SBI Life, Infosys, TCS and IndusInd Bank were among the notable gainers.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 3,124 shares were declining while 499 were advancing on the BSE.