Profit booking hits D-St; Sensex sheds 1281 pts; mid, smallcaps outperform

Share market closing bell, today, Tuesday, May 13, 2025: Indian benchmark indices gave up their Monday's gains on Tuesday, May 13, amid broad-based profit booking and lingering geopolitical concerns surrounding India-Pakistan relations, said analysts. After notching their strongest single-day performance in four years just a session earlier, both the Sensex and Nifty50 retreated sharply, led by losses in heavyweight sectors.  

 

The BSE Sensex plunged 1,386.21 points to an intra-day low of 81,043.69, while the NSE Nifty50 tanked 377.20 points to touch 24,547.50.

 

Despite the weakness in headline indices, broader market participation remained resilient, with midcap and smallcap stocks adding gains.

 

 

On the sectoral front, Information Technology (IT) stocks bore the worst brunt, followed by FMCG, financial services, automobiles, and private banks. In contrast, PSU banks and pharmaceutical stocks defied the broader market trend and ended higher.

 

At the close, the BSE Sensex stood at 81,148.22, down by 1,281.68 points or 1.55 per cent from its previous close, dragged by Infosys (down 3.54 per cent), Eternal (3.38 per cent), Power Grid (3.40 per cent), HCL Tech (2.94 per cent), and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS, down 2.88 per cent). On the other hand, Sun Pharma (0.84 per cent), Adani Ports (0.48 per cent), Bajaj Finance (0.29 per cent), State Bank of India (0.04 per cent), and Tech Mahindra (0.03 per cent) managed to eke out gains.

 

The index heavyweight HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries ended lower by 1.66 per cent and 1.38 per cent, respectively.

 

Mirroring the Sensex, the Nifty50 also ended lower, down by 346.35 points or 1.39 per cent, closing at 24,578.35.

 

Despite the decline in benchmark indices, market breadth remained fairly positive—2,523 out of 4,098 traded stocks on the BSE advanced, while 1,438 declined and 137 remained unchanged.   

Mid, smallcaps outperform

Among the broader markets, Nifty Midcap100 and Nifty Smallcap100 indices settled with gains of 0.19 per cent and 0.81 per cent, respectively. Bharat Dynamics (up 11.47 per cent), Vishal Mega Mart (6.62 per cent), Inventurus Knowledge Solutions (6.56 per cent), Afcons Infrastructure (5.94 per cent) were among the top gainers in the mid-smallcap space.   

  The Nifty IT index was the top laggard among sectoral indices on the NSE, settling lower by 2.42 per cent, dragged down by Infosys, HCL Tech, and TCS.

This was followed by the FMCG index, which ended lower by 1.34 per cent, weighed down by United Breweries (down 2.3 per cent) and Tata Consumer Products (down 2.18 per cent).

 

Among other sectoral indices, the Nifty Financial Services index declined by 1.10 per cent, the Auto index by 1 per cent, and the Private Bank index by 0.99 per cent.

 

On the other hand, the Nifty PSU Bank index and the Pharma index defied the market trend, settling higher by 1.56 per cent and 1.22 per cent respectively. 

Experts weigh In

The relief-driven surge—fuelled by easing global and domestic risks, including a reduction in trade war tensions and Indo-Pak geopolitical stress, analysts believe, appears to be taking a breather.

 

This consolidation, Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said, is primarily affecting large-cap stocks, while mid- and small-cap segments continue to gain traction. Nair expects this divergence to persist, supported by broad-based earnings improvements reflected in Q4 results so far.

 

The dip in the markets, Ajit Mishra, SVP, research, at Religare Broking, said, reflects caution among participants despite easing geopolitical tensions and stable global cues. However, Mishra expects the overall tone to remain positive. "The focus should remain on identifying key sectors and themes showing relative strength, and using intermediate pauses to accumulate quality stocks," said Mishra.

 

Looking ahead, Nair, on the other hand, believes that there is increasing optimism around FY26 earnings growth, underpinned by supportive fiscal and monetary policies, a rebound in external demand, a favourable monsoon outlook, and declining inflation and interest rates. "These factors collectively suggest that midcaps are well-positioned to catch up and potentially outperform in the coming quarters," said Nair.

Technical view

Today, the benchmark indices witnessed profit booking at higher levels. The Nifty ended 346 points lower, while the Sensex declined by 1,281 points. Among sectors, the Defence index outperformed, rallying 4.10 per cent, whereas the IT index lost the most, shedding nearly 2.5 per cent. Technically, after a muted open, the market consistently faced selling pressure at higher levels.

 

On daily charts, the benchmark indices have formed a bearish candle, which supports the view of temporary weakness. However, the short-term texture of the market, according to Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities, remains on the positive side. "For traders now, 24,500/81,000 and 24,450/80,800 would act as key support zones. If the market succeeds in trading above these levels, it could retest the levels of 24,800–24,900/81,800–82,000. On the flip side, below 24,450/80,800, the uptrend would become vulnerable," said Chouhan.

 

If the market falls below this level, Chouhan suggests that traders may prefer to exit their long positions.