Share Market Crash: As soon as the Indian stock markets opened today on February 13, there was a huge decline for the second consecutive day. The Sensex plunged by more than 900 points during trading. At the same time, Nifty fell below 25,550. Continuous selling in shares of IT companies and weak signals from global markets have affected the morale of investors. Due to this, all-round selling was seen in the market today. Almost all sectoral indices were trading in the red. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices also fell by around 1.5%.
Around 1.50 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading 916.85 points or 1.1 per cent lower at 82,758.07. Whereas Nifty fell by 285.75 points or 1.11 percent and was trading at the level of 25,521.45.
There were 4 big reasons behind today’s decline in the stock market-
1. Heavy selling in IT shares
The biggest reason behind today’s fall in the stock market was the selling of shares of IT companies. Shares of IT companies have been falling continuously for the last three days. Shares of big companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL Tech, Coforge and Persistent Systems fell by up to 8 percent. Nifty IT index also fell by about 5%. Earlier on February 12 also, a decline of 5.5% was recorded in the IT index.
This fall in the shares of IT companies has come due to concerns related to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Experts say that AI-based automation is expected to have a huge impact on the business model and earnings of traditional IT companies. Due to this, investors have now started being cautious about these companies.
Analysts believe that Indian IT companies may face challenges from AI at the level of margins and order growth. Ajit Mishra, Senior Vice President (Research), Religare Broking, said, “The sharp fall in IT stocks has currently put the market bulls on the backfoot. Investor sentiment has weakened due to heavy selling in IT stocks amid global fluctuations.”
The IT index has fallen 11.4% so far this week. At the same time, till now in the year 2026, it has declined by 16.6%, which is more than the decline of 12.6% in the entire last year. This clearly shows that the pressure on the IT sector has increased further this year.
2. Weak global signal
Weak global signals were also a major reason for the decline in the stock market. Weakness was seen in Asian markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s Shanghai SSE Composite were seen trading in decline. Even in America, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell by more than 2% on Thursday. Apart from IT, shares of software, real estate and logistics sectors also witnessed a huge fall. Investors are reassessing the profit estimates of these companies due to the potential impact of AI, which has increased caution and selling in the market.
Investors are now waiting for the inflation data to be released on Friday, which may be important in deciding the direction of interest rates. At the same time, US employment data, which came in better than expected in January, has weakened expectations of interest rate cuts in the near future. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell by more than 1%.
Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said, “There was a sharp decline in the major indices of Wall Street on Thursday. Due to increasing selling in IT and tech stocks and concerns related to Artificial Intelligence, investors distanced themselves from tech and transport stocks, due to which Nasdaq fell by about 2%.”
3. Weakness in rupee
The rupee fell 8 paise to 90.69 against the dollar in early trade. The rupee remained under pressure due to the strengthening of the US dollar and fall in the domestic stock market. According to Forex traders, due to the strength of the dollar, the currencies of emerging markets are not gaining momentum. For this reason, weakness was seen in the rupee also.
4. Rise in India VIX
The India VIX index, which gives an indication of the volatility present in the stock market, also jumped by more than 4 percent in Friday’s trading. The rise in VIX means that the risk and volatility in the stock market has increased. This indicates that investors are currently adopting a defensive strategy.
Now what next?
According to Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Investments, Nifty may retest the low in the range of 25,700–26,220 seen earlier this week. He said that at present a weak trend i.e. bearish trend may persist in the market. The level of 25,500 is seen as immediate support. If the decline continues, the next important support could be at 24,571.
However, if Nifty goes above 25,750 then the pace of decline may slow down. Crossing the range of 25,830–25,900 again may indicate strength in the market.
Also read- IT Stocks Crash: Chaos in IT stocks for the third consecutive day; Infosys, TCS, Wipro fell by 8%, know the reason
Disclaimer: The views and investment advice given by experts/brokerage firms on Moneycontrol are their own and not those of the website and its management. The website or management is not responsible for this. Moneycontrol advises users to consult certified experts before taking any investment decision.