Nifty 50 Junior outperformed Nifty 50 in both monthly and yearly comparisons, with strong returns from stocks like Zomato and Adani Green Energy. Nifty 50 Junior has delivered a return of 5.94% in the current month, while Nifty 50 has gained 1.45% in the same period.
Large private banks led the sell-off, while public sector lenders and information technology stocks bucked the weak trend. NSE s Nifty fell 212.5 points, or 0.97%, to close at 21,717.9. The BSE Sensex declined 723.5 points, or 1%, to end at 71,428.4.
Analysts said traders are bracing for sharp swings around the budget announcement for FY25, the government s final one before the national elections this year. "We have seen a negative market trend on average in the past budgets since 2012, and today s decline too was just due to profit booking," said Apurva Sheth, head of research at Samco Securities.