HDFC Bank was not the only sentiment spoiler on Thursday leading to a 600-point crash in the Nifty. The auto pack, which has the fourth-largest weight in the benchmark index and accounts for 7%, was the worst sectoral loser, dropping 1,000 points or 4% intraday. All 15 stocks were trading in the red.

Big guns like Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Maruti Suzuki and Eicher Motors plunged up to 5%. Others like Bharat Forge, Samvardhana Motherson International, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (TMPV), Ashok Leyland, TVS Motor Company, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto also dropped between 5% and 3%.

Auto ancillary counters like Uno Minda, Bosch, Sona BLW Precision Forgings, Exide Industries and Tube Investments of India fell between 1% and 3%.

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The Nifty Auto index is down over 11% over a month and is among the worst-hit sectors, apart from banks and IT.

While financial services stocks remain the biggest mover by virtue of their weight (37.68%), Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (10%) and Information Technology (8.84%) also enjoy considerable weight in the 50-stock index.While the Nifty IT index was down 2.6%, Nifty Oil & Gas was down 1.5%.

The Thursday fall comes following the US Federal Reserve’s Wednesday decision to hold policy rates at 3.50% to 3.75%. The rate-setting committee, with an 11:1 margin, voted to maintain the status quo in light of the Iran-Israel/US war, fearing inflation could rise again. Fed officials revised their 2026 inflation outlook upward to 2.7% from 2.4% due to Middle Eastern tensions.

Brent prices today shot up to $116 a barrel after an Iranian missile attack on Ras Laffan, which houses Qatar’s core LNG processing operations.

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Energy prices are directly linked to sentiment around the automobile sector.

The war has now entered its 20th day and there are no signs of a truce between the warring factions. To make matters worse, they have started targeting each other’s energy infrastructure.

On the other hand, the Sensex fell 2,200 points or 3.8% to hit the day’s low of 74,510.27. The biggest laggards were HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

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