Global stocks tumbled on Thursday after a tech-fuelled sell-off on Wall Street last night. A slew of disappointing results caused traders to panic that the artificial-intelligence frenzy that has powered the bull market this year may have been overdone, said Deepak Jasani, head (retail research), HDFC Securities

Unabated selling :

• Heavy FII outflows after a hike in STT, LTCG tax
• FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs5,130.90 cr on Wed
• Sharp rally in Tata Motors. L&T restricted fall
• BSE Sensex settled 109.08 pts or 0.14% lower at 80,039.80
• During the day, Sensex tanked 671 pts or 0.83% to 79,477.83
• NSE Nifty dipped 7.40 pts or 0.03% to 24,406.10
• Intra-day, Nifty tumbled 202.7 pts or 0.83% to 24,210.80
• Axis Bank, Nestle, Titan, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, ITC, JSW Steel and SBI were laggards
• Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and Power Grid were gainers

Mumbai: Equity market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty stayed on the back foot for the fifth straight session on Thursday as investors offloaded metal, banking and finance stocks amid a lackluster trend in global markets. Heavy foreign fund outflows after a hike in securities transaction tax (STT) and short-term capital gains (STCG) tax also impacted markets’ sentiment negatively, traders said. However, strong buying in oil & stocks, energy and auto shares helped the indices offset some losses, they added.

After a sharp fall in intra-day trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex managed to recover some of the lost ground to settle 109.08 points or 0.14 per cent lower at 80,039.80, as a sharp rally in Tata Motors and Larsen & Toubro restricted its fall. During the day, Sensex tanked 671 points or 0.83 per cent to 79,477.83. The NSE Nifty dipped 7.40 points or 0.03 per cent to 24,406.10. Intra-day, it tumbled 202.7 points or 0.83 per cent to 24,210.80.

“Overnight slump in US equities caused a major slump in domestic markets in early trade due to heavy profit-taking in banking, IT, metals and realty stocks. However, markets recouped most of its losses towards the end, with Sensex managing to close above the crucial 80k-mark amid buying in oil & gas and automobile stocks, indicating that investors are willing to bet on good fundamental sectoral stocks despite rising concerns of the stretched valuations of the Indian markets,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior V-P (research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed companies was at Rs4,49,82,435.88 crore or (Rs449.82 lakh cr or $5.37 trn). In five days, the BSE benchmark has tumbled 1,303.66 points or 1.60 per cent, while the Nifty declined 394.75 points or 1.59 per cent.

“After a volatile session, the Indian market concluded on a flat note, influenced by lower-than-expected earnings growth from major banks. Global indices also reacted pessimistically due to the disappointing results from top US tech companies. However, the government’s commitment to improving consumption and bridging the gap for energy transition in the budget buoyed sectoral sentiments,” said Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge declined 0.22 per cent, and smallcap index dipped 0.14 per cent.

“Global stocks tumbled on Thursday after a tech-fuelled sell-off on Wall Street last night.