Bourses Back In Red On Weak Cues

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower on Tuesday as uninterrupted foreign fund outflows and lower-than-expected corporate earnings continued to hit investors’ sentiment. After a day’s breather, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex ended 29.47 points or 0.04 per cent lower at 75,967.39. Intra-day, it dropped 465.85 points or 0.61 per cent to 75,531.01. The NSE Nifty dipped 14.20 points or 0.06 per cent to settle at 22,945.30.

“On Tuesday, the Indian blue-chip equity indices, Sensex and Nifty-50, closed with a slight decline, primarily due to a slowdown in earnings and concerns over ongoing foreign selling, which affected market sentiment,” said Ameya Ranadive, Chartered Market Technician, CFTe, Sr Technical Analyst, StoxBox.

The BSE smallcap gauge dropped 1.71 per cent and midcap index declined 0.19 per cent.

“The domestic market has experienced both profit-booking and bottom-fishing amid persistent concerns over FII outflows and pressure on the INR. Small and midcap stocks continue to lag due to apprehensions about premium valuations. Meanwhile, India’s trade deficit has widened beyond expectations, driven by rising imports due to depreciating domestic currency and surging commodity prices,” Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services.

Among BSE sectoral indices, industrials dropped 1.51 per cent, consumer durables (1.19 per cent), telecommunication (1.06 per cent), capital goods (0.91 per cent), auto (0.65 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.55 per cent). BSE utilities climbed 1.03 per cent, BSE Focused IT (0.86 per cent), oil & gas (0.70 per cent) and energy (0.38 per cent). As many as 2,918 stocks declined while 1,032 advanced and 114 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,937.83 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

From the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC and Asian Paints were among the biggest laggards. NTPC, Zomato, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HCL