Sensex tanks 501 points on selling in bank stocks, foreign fund outflows

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled on Friday (July 18, 2025), marking their second straight day of losses due to foreign fund outflows and selling in banking shares after a muted start to the quarterly earnings season.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 501.51 points or 0.61%, to settle at 81,757.73. During the day, it shed 651.11 points or 0.79%, to hit a low of 81,608.13.

The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 143.05 points or 0.57%, to close at 24,968.40.

Analysts said investors turned cautious over banking stocks in response to Axis Bank’s latest financial results, which fell short of market expectations.

Among Sensex firms, Axis Bank tumbled the most by 5.24% after it reported a 3% dip in its June quarter consolidated net profit at ₹6,243.72 crore, impacted by the implementation of changes in non-performing assets and loan upgrade policy.

Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said Axis Bank’s latest financial results fell short of market expectations.

“Notably, Axis Bank’s GDR tumbled 4.8% to $64.30 on Thursday (July 17, 2025), following a deterioration in the bank’s asset quality during the June quarter,” he said.

Among blue-chip bank stocks, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India ended lower. Following the decline in bank stocks, the BSE Bankex ended 1.33% lower at 62,741.65.

Bharat Electronics, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Eternal were also among the laggards from the Sensex pack.

However, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech and Infosys were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,694.31 crore on Thursday (July 17, 2025), according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index settled lower, while Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended in positive territory.

European markets were trading with gains. The U.S. markets ended higher on Thursday (July 17, 2025).

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.92% to $70.16 a barrel. On Thursday (July 17, 2025), the Sensex dropped 375.24 points or 0.45%, to settle at 82,259.24. The Nifty ended lower by 100.60 points or 0.40%, at 25,111.45.