Indian indices slip as power and metal stocks tumble amid global headwinds

Sensex and Nifty fell sharply in early trade on Thursday, October 22, as selling in power and metal shares pulled the broad market lower. The 30‑share BSE Sensex dropped 678.90 points, or 0.92%, to 73,030.79, while the 50‑share NSE Nifty slid 250.90 points, or 1.10%, to 22,568.10. PowerGrid, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra and several other constituents were the main laggards. In contrast, Eternal rose over 2% after its parent, the owner of Zomato and Blinkit, posted a September‑quarter net profit of ₹125 crore, nearly double the ₹65 crore a year earlier. Bharti Airtel, Infosys and HCL Technologies also traded higher. "The recent market trend has been the outperformance of large‑caps relative to mid‑and small‑caps. The broader market resilience in recent months has been more a function of liquidity than earnings," said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Ltd. He warned that the current overvaluation of mid‑ and small‑caps is likely to correct soon. Asian markets mirrored the slump, with South Korea's Kospi down 3.12%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng off 3%, Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 1.94% and Shanghai's SSE Composite slipping nearly 1%. Brent crude rose nearly 2% to $110.68 a barrel, adding to the pressure. FIIs bought equities worth ₹1,022.32 crore on Wednesday, while domestic investors added ₹1,614.32 crore. ## Context The decline reflects a mix of sector‑specific weakness in power and metals and broader external pressures from higher oil prices and strong US bond yields, which together dampened investor sentiment across the region.