Stock Market Crash: Key factors behind the 300-point drop on the Nifty on Tuesday

Indian equity markets ended with steep losses on Tuesday, June 23, with the Nifty 50 index ending with losses of over 300 points and the Sensex declining over 500 points.

All sectoral indices, barring Pharma, ended with losses on Tuesday.

Losses were led by led by the Metal index, which was led lower by Vedanta after its ₹2,150 crore block deal, and an stronger US Dollar Index, which has crossed the mark of 101. A stronger Dollar is negative for Metals as it increases acquisition costs for the buyer.

IT is the other major sectoral loser, continuing to extend its losses. Both Infosys and TCS are down 3% each. Infosys will also be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) later today. Reliance Industries shares also fell 2%.

Why Did The Markets Fall On Tuesday?

The markets declined in-line with the global tech meltdown seen on Tuesday. South Korea's benchmark KOSPI ended 10% lower on Tuesday with trading being halted for a few minutes as the circuit limit was triggered.

Two stocks that have powered the KOSPI rally this year, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix both ended with losses of over 12%. The losses were triggered after a local media report that SK Hynix is slowing down the expansion of its latest chip and focusing on a lower priced commodity to address the shortfall there.

The fall in the KOSPI has resulted in the US futures also taking a nosedive before trading begins later this evening.

Futures linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq are down close to 800 points, while the S&P 500 futures are down 100. The Dow futures are trading 280 points lower as well.

Barring Nifty Pharma, all sectoral indices are trading with losses on Dalal Street on Tuesday.

Today was also the weekly options expiry of the NSE contracts and that also had a part to play in the resulting market volatility.

For the Nifty, the 100-DMA around 24,200 on the upside continues to remain a resistance zone. It remains to be seen which course the Nifty takes next as the index has closed just around the important support of 23,800.