Sensex drops 790pts from day high, Nifty below 25100: Why are markets down?

Stock market crash: Indian stock markets crashed on October 14 as Sensex fell 792 points from day's high and Nifty fell 250 pts amid global sell-off, FII outflows, rupee weakness, and expiry pressure

Stock market crash today, October 14: Indian stock markets turned volatile in the second half of the session, erasing gains amid a broad-based selling.

 

The BSE Sensex index tumbled 545.43 points, compared to its last day’s closing level, to hit an intraday low of 81,781.62. The index crashed a whopping 792 points from the day’s high.

 

Similarly, the Nifty50 index fell 167 points intraday to a low of 25,060.5. From the day’s high of 25,310.35, it retreated 250 points.

 

With this, the 30-stock index has slipped 719 points in two days and the 50-stock index has dropped 225 points.

 

At 2:25 PM, the benchmark indices were slightly off lows, down 0.33 per cent, while the Nifty MidCap index and the Nifty SmallCap indices were down 0.9 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.

 

Top gainers, losers today

Bajaj Finance, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Bharat Electronics, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, TCS, Hindalco, Cipla, NTPC, and Trent were the top losers on the Nifty today, falling in the range of 1 per cent to 2 per cent.

 

Grasim, Nestle India, SBI, Ultratech Cement, Asian Paints, Jio Financial Services, Sun Pharma, Adani Enterprises, and L&T, meanwhile, were down up to 1 per cent.

 

On the upside, only ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Power Grid, Shriram Finance, Kotak Bank, Tata Consumer Products, and Tata Motors were top gainers, rising up to 0.4 per cent.

 

All the sectoral indices were in the red, led by the Nifty PSU Bank (down 1.45 per cent), the Nifty Metal index (1.09 per cent), the Nifty Media index (1.07 per cent) the Nifty Realty index (0.9 per cent), and the Nifty Pharma index (0.7 per cent).

 

Stock market crash: Why are Sensex, Nifty falling today? Key reasons explained:

 

Nifty weekly expiry

The weekly expiry of the Nifty’s derivative (F&O) contracts is scheduled to happen today. Markets, typically, witness sharp swings on expiry days as investors rush to cover/rollover their positions in the derivatives segment.

 

As per the options data shared by Axis Securities, the highest Open Interest on the Call side is at the 25,500 strike, followed by 25,300. These levels should act as resistance levels for the Nifty index.

 

On the Put side, the highest Open Interest is at 25,200, followed by 25,000, which may serve as support levels.

 

The premium for the At-the-Money option is ₹288, indicating a likely trading range for the week between 24,900 and 25,500.

 

Sell-off in global markets amid US-China trade tensions

Major markets in the Asia\-Pacific region ended sharply lower on Tuesday, while those in the Euro zone began trading on a weak note as global uncertainty around the US-China trade friction continued.

 

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 2.58 per cent today, while the Topix lost 1.99 per cent.

 

In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi index ended 0.63 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.7 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite index, too, slipped 0.6 per cent on Tuesday.

 

In Europe, stocks began trading on the backfoot with the pan-European Stoxx 600 trading 0.8 per cent lower, with most sectors and major bourses in negative territory.

 

In fresh signs of trade-war escalation, China retaliated against the United States on Tuesday by imposing sanctions on American subsidiaries of a South Korean shipping firm. The measures affect five US-based units of Hanwha Ocean Co. and have triggered a global market dip today.

 

This follows US President Trump’s multiple ‘Truth Social’ posts over the weekend, where he hinted at a possible de-escalation of tariff and trade tensions between the US and China, while at the same time issuing a veiled threat to China's President Xi Jinping.

 

Notably, China has slapped new port fees on US ships and has launched an antitrust investigation into US-based Qualcomm. Beijing has also halted purchases of US soybeans, scrambling business plans for US farmers.

 

Rupee falls, FII selling increases

The rupee fell up to 88.79 per US dollar on Tuesday, trading in a broad range of 88.5880 – 88.7950/$.

 

Weakness in rupee against the greenback makes foreign investors’ investments in Indian stocks unattractive.

 

Notably, FIIs turned net sellers of Indian stocks on Monday, snapping their 5-day buying spree, as they sold equities worth ₹240.1 crore. So far in October, 2025, FII have sold India stocks worth ₹453.14 crore.