Reliance lost market value of thousands of crores

Indian benchmark equity indices ended lower for the second consecutive session amid rising global geopolitical tensions and renewed tariff hike warnings by  US President Donald Trump. The cautious global cues triggered heavy selling in frontline stocks, dragging the broader market down.

Shares of market heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank witnessed significant selling pressure. During intraday trade, the Sensex slipped as much as 540 points and briefly fell below the crucial 85,000 mark before recovering slightly to close 376.28 points lower at 85,063.34.

The Nifty 50 also declined by 71.60 points to settle at 26,178.70. As a result, the total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies dropped by Rs 1.21 lakh crore to Rs 479.59 lakh crore in a single session.

Reliance Industries shares plunged nearly 5 percent at one point to hit an intraday low of Rs 1,497.05  the steepest intraday fall in over eight months. Although the stock recovered marginally later, it ended the day down 4.42 percent at Rs 1,507.70, wiping out Rs 94,388.99 crore in market value and taking the company’s valuation down to Rs 20.40 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, Reliance denied a Bloomberg report that claimed Russian crude oil shipments were headed to its Jamnagar refinery. The company clarified that it had not received crude from Russia for nearly three weeks and does not expect any such supplies this month. Despite the clarification, selling pressure in the stock persisted.