The March F&O series has had a terrible start, and on Friday, February 28, Indian equity markets are trading with sharp declines. The total market capitalization of the listed companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has dropped by ₹6 lakh crore in the first forty-five minutes.

The Sensex is down almost 1,000 points in the first hour of trading, while the Nifty is trading with 300-point cuts. The Midcap index has corrected more than 21% from its peak in September 2024, and it is currently down more than 1,200 points. The Smallcap index has corrected more than 24% from its December peak and is currently down more than 2%. The markets are down during today's trading session for a variety of reasons.

One of the main causes of the market decline was Thursday night's sell-off in the US markets. The Dow Jones ended 200 points lower, but it corrected more than 650 points from the sessions' highs, while the Nasdaq dropped more than 550 points.

The 8.5% decline in Nvidia shares following its earnings was the catalyst for the Nasdaq's decline. The Nifty IT index, the biggest sectoral loser in today's trading session, has been impacted by the Nasdaq sell-off.                                                                                              

Additionally, US President Donald Trump confirmed that the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect on March 4, along with an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports. Reciprocal tariffs will be implemented as scheduled on April 2.

Today's session has seen losses across all sectoral indices. Along with the Nifty IT, the Nifty Auto and Nifty Media indices are trading down more than 2% each.