{"id":1514,"date":"2026-02-01T23:38:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T18:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/?p=1514"},"modified":"2026-02-01T23:45:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T18:15:30","slug":"sensex-nifty-sink-nearly-2-pc-as-stt-hike-triggers-sell-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/?p=1514","title":{"rendered":"Sensex, Nifty sink nearly 2 pc as STT hike triggers sell-off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"449\" height=\"287\" data-id=\"1523\" src=\"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sensex-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sensex-1.png 449w, https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sensex-1-300x192.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Mumbai, Indian stock markets witnessed a sharp fall on Budget Day as investors reacted negatively to the government\u2019s decision to raise the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures and options trading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty recorded their biggest Budget-day decline in six years, with both ending around 2 per cent lower in a special trading session held on February 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the end of the session, the Sensex closed at 80,723, while the Nifty settled at 24,825, losing 495 points or nearly 2 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Markets were far weaker during the day, with the Sensex plunging almost 3,000 points at one stage to hit an intra-day low of 79,899.42.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Nifty also slipped sharply to a low of 24,572 before recovering slightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe market&#8217;s reaction has been negative, primarily due to low expectations, limited outlays and the negative bias created by the increased Securities Transaction Tax (STT) for futures, triggering a knee-jerk response,&#8221; an expert stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sell-off came after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced higher STT rates during her Budget 2026 speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tax on futures trades was increased to 0.05 per cent from 0.02 per cent, while STT on options premium was raised to 0.15 per cent from 0.1 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These steep hikes triggered heavy selling, especially in stocks linked to trading and financial activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The broader market also remained under strong pressure. The Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 2 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 dropped 2.7 per cent, showing that selling was not limited to large-cap stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investor fear rose sharply as India VIX, which measures market volatility, jumped nearly 12 per cent, reflecting high nervousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sector-wise, almost all indices ended in the red except the IT sector. Public sector bank stocks were hit the hardest, with the Nifty PSU Bank index tumbling nearly 6 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Metal stocks also suffered heavily, falling about 4 per cent. Banking and financial services stocks declined by over 2 per cent each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the Nifty companies, Bharat Electronics, Hindalco and ONGC were the worst performers, each falling around 6 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other major stocks such as SBI, Coal India, Jio Financial Services, Nestle India, ITC and Tata Consumer Products also closed lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the positive side, IT stocks provided some relief, with Wipro, TCS and Max Healthcare gaining around 2 per cent each.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mumbai, Indian stock markets witnessed a sharp fall on Budget Day as investors reacted negatively to the government\u2019s decision to raise the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures and options [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-display","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1525,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514\/revisions\/1525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}