On Tuesday, the streak of six sessions of spectacular growth in the Indian stock markets came to an end. Profit-booking triggered widespread selling amid diminished expectations of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve, sending the Sensex down 277.93 points or 0.33% to 84,673.02. NSE Nifty 50 also showed similar cautious results and closed 103.40 points or 0.40% lower at 25,910.05, just short of the psychologically important 26,000 level.

Benchmark indices opened flat—Sensex at 85,042.37 against Monday’s 84,950.95, Nifty at 26,021.80 against 26,013.45—but a stronger dollar and a waning prospect of the Fed easing policy rates in December pushed them into the red as global jitters waned. “Investors booked profits after a rally on weak overseas cues. IT, metals and realty stocks declined amid a stronger dollar, although private banks offset the losses,” analysts at Emkay Global said.

The market situation remained rough, with 2,526 decliners out of 4,167 shares outpacing 1,466 gainers on the BSE. Sensex laggards included Tech Mahindra (-2.1%), Eternal (-1.8%), Infosys (-1.5%), Bajaj Finserv (-1.4%), Bajaj Finance (-1.3%), L&T (-1.2%), Trent (-1.1%), HUL (-1.0%), HCL Tech (-0.9%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-0.8%), TCS (-0.7%), BEL (-0.6%), HDFC Bank (-0.5%), ICICI Bank (-0.4%), and Sun Pharma (-0.3%). Gainers included Bharti Airtel (+1.2%), Axis Bank (+0.9%), Asian Paints (+0.7%), and PowerGrid (+0.5%).

Heavy declines were seen across sectors: Nifty IT fell 400 points or 1.10%, Financial Services fell 99 points or 0.36%, Banks 63 points or 0.11%, Auto 104 points or 0.38%, and FMCG fell 313 points or 0.56%. The broader markets fared even worse, with Nifty Midcap 100 down 358 points or 0.59%, Smallcap 100 down 192 points or 1.05% and Nifty 100 down 120 points or 0.45%.

Now the eye turns to Thursday’s US non-farm wages data, which is important for Fed signals. “Progress in the India-US trade agreement and strong second-quarter earnings could revive momentum, taking Nifty beyond 26,000,” said Deepak Shenoy of Emkay. Despite the decline, foreign institutional investors made net purchases of Rs 1,200 crore on Monday, indicating the inherent resilience in India’s growth story amid global volatility.