Indian equity markets witnessed significant selling pressure during Wednesday's trading session, with the S&P BSE Sensex tumbling 949.24 points or 1.27% to 73,700.60 and the Nifty 50 index declining 264.85 points or 1.14% to 23,213.30 as of 11:30 IST. According to reports from Business Standard, the broader market indices also faced pressure, with the BSE 150 MidCap Index falling 1.11% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index slipping 0.71%. Market breadth remained negative with 1,330 shares rising, 2,518 shares falling, and 221 shares unchanged on the BSE.
The real estate sector emerged as the worst performer with the Nifty Realty index declining 1.87% to 758.90, marking a significant reversal from its 0.67% gain in the previous trading session. As reported by Moneycontrol, real estate stocks traded lower ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision, with investors awaiting cues on the interest-rate outlook. A Moneycontrol poll of 16 economists, fixed-income heads and treasury chiefs found that the RBI is likely to keep benchmark interest rates unchanged at this week's Monetary Policy Committee meeting, despite growing inflationary risks, a weakening rupee and elevated Brent crude oil prices. Among the worst performers, Prestige Estates Projects was the worst performer, falling 3.71% to ₹1,343.20, while Macrotech Developers (Lodha) slipped 3.04% to ₹876.30 and DLF declined 2.25% to ₹578.55. Godrej Properties fell 1.55% to ₹1,693.90 and Anant Raj was down 1.33% at ₹544.85. Among actively traded counters, DLF saw volume of 22.02 lakh shares, followed by Anant Raj with 20.37 lakh shares and Lodha with 14.04 lakh shares on the NSE.
Several stocks faced significant pressure during the session. Zydus Lifesciences slipped 1.94% after the company announced receiving a warning letter from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) relating to its formulation manufacturing facility located at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. Conversely, AJAX Engineering rose 0.33% following the company's announcement of Ketan Pendse's appointment as chief financial officer (CFO) and key managerial personnel, effective June 2, 2026. Bajel Projects added 1.14% after securing an order from a Datacenter Client (Mumbai) for design, engineering, procurement, supply, erection, commissioning & performance testing of a 400/220/33 KV GIS Substation for a Data Center project.
The weakness in realty stocks also comes amid a sharp selloff in information technology shares, with the Nifty IT index falling nearly 23% so far in 2026, eroding around ₹6.6 lakh crore in market value. According to Moneycontrol, this decline is amid concerns over the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, softer global demand and geopolitical tensions in West Asia. Market participants often view the IT sector as a key demand driver for residential real estate, particularly in major urban centres. Any slowdown in hiring or concerns over job losses in the technology sector can weigh on housing demand sentiment, adding pressure on realty stocks.
Despite the current weakness, brokerages remain constructive on leading listed real estate developers. Emkay Global Financial Services said in a sector report that while they expect the overall market to move into a slower growth phase in FY27, listed developers should continue to outperform the broader market due to consolidation, branded demand shift, and premium segment resilience. The Nifty Realty index touched an intraday high of 773.70 and a low of 753.80 against its previous close of 773.35, showing volatility amid the broader market selloff.
