27 March 2026: Sensex Drops 1,000 Points In Early Trade

Benchmarks fell sharply on Friday morning in early trade. Thus, they snapped a two-session rally. The Sensex dropped over 1,000 points, and the Nifty 50 slipped close to the 23,000 mark. The decline came amid a fresh record low in the rupee and fading hopes of a near-term de-escalation in the Iran-US conflict.

At 9:40 am, the Sensex was down around 1,000 points at 74,272. The Nifty 50 fell 291 points to 23,050. The selloff erased over ₹5 lakh crore in market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms within minutes of opening, pulling the total to ₹426 lakh crore.

Market breadth remained weak. On the NSE, 1,972 stocks declined, while 660 advanced and 96 were unchanged. Volatility rose, with India VIX gaining about 4%.

Reasons Why Markets Fell

Several reasons contributed to the market fall, including:

Weakness In Rupee

The Indian rupee weakened further on Friday and crossed the 94 mark against the US dollar for the first time. It fell to 94.1575 per dollar, moving past its earlier record low of 93.98 touched earlier this week. The currency has now dropped about 3.5% since the conflict began late last month. The continued fall in the rupee added pressure on the equity markets.

Unabated Middle East Tension

The ongoing conflict between Iran and the US-Israel bloc continued to weigh on market sentiment. US President Donald Trump said that talks with Iran were going very well. However, an Iranian official told Reuters that the US proposal was one-sided and unfair.

Elevated Oil Prices

Oil prices remained high even though early gains cooled slightly. Brent crude futures were trading over $100 per barrel at 10:18 am. High oil prices remain a concern for India, which depends heavily on imports.

Weak Global Markets

Global markets showed weakness, adding to the negative mood. On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.7%, while the Nasdaq dropped more than 2%. The Dow Jones also declined by over 1%.

Asian markets followed the trend. South Korea’s Kospi fell nearly 3%, and Japan’s Nikkei was down over 0.6%. China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng saw only marginal gains.

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Continued FII Selling

Foreign institutional investors (FII) continued to sell Indian equities. They have now remained net sellers for 19 straight sessions. On Wednesday, FIIs sold shares worth ₹1,805 crore, according to NSE data.

Rise In US Bond Yields

US Treasury yields moved higher as uncertainty around the global situation increased. The 10-year yield crossed 4%. The two-year yield remained elevated at 3.98%.

As the day progresses, analysts believe crude prices and the situation in the Middle East are likely to dominate how markets perform.

Sources:

The Economic Times

The Hindu Business Line