Sensex, Nifty Plunge from Highs on New Year's First Day: 5 Reasons Why

• Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹3,597.38 crore, marking the seventh consecutive day of selling.
• Low trading volumes due to New Year holidays in major global markets like the US and Europe.
• Significant profit booking in pharma and FMCG stocks, with ITC shares falling over 6% after new excise duty.
• Sensex weekly expiry, the first of 2026, contributed to intra-day volatility.
• Rupee weakened by 11 paise against the US dollar to ₹89.99 due to continuous foreign investment outflows.

Why It Matters: Indian markets saw a volatile start to 2026, with Sensex and Nifty falling from highs due to FII selling, low volumes, and profit booking.