Stock market crash: Due to weak global cues, the Indian stock market saw severe losses in early trading on Monday, February 3, with the Sensex dropping more than 700 points and the Nifty 50 plunging to a level below 23,250.

The Sensex dropped more than 700 points to 76,791.09 after opening at 77,063.94 compared to its previous close of 77,505.96. The Nifty 50 fell 1% to 23,246.55, having opened at 23,319.35 from its previous close of 23,482.15.


The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices fell more than 1% each, indicating a more severe selloff in the mid and small-cap sectors.

At approximately 11.15 AM, the Nifty 50 was 160 and the Sensex was 418 points, or 0.54%, below the 77,100 level.

The overall market capitalisation of the BSE-listed firms dropped to nearly ₹419 lakh crore from ₹424 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors lose about ₹5 lakh crore.

Why is the Indian stock market falling today?

Experts pointed out the following five reasons behind the fall in the Indian stock market:

1. Weak global cues

The Indian stock market reacted to weak global cues. Major Asian markets fell on Monday after US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, raising concerns about a broad trade war that could impact global economic growth. Japan's Nikkei and Korea's KOSPI fell 3 per cent each.

"Despite an excellent budget, the market will be under pressure from the Trump tariffs and the heightened global uncertainty that these ‘initial rounds of tariffs’ have triggered," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.