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India's benchmark stock indices, Sensex and Nifty, took a significant hit on Tuesday, with both falling by more than 1%, as a global selloff and a massive outflow of foreign funds impacted market sentiment. According to traders, weaker-than-expected earnings growth also contributed to the bearish mood.
Extending the previous day's losses, the BSE Sensex plunged by 930.55 points, or 1.15%, to close at 80,220.72. During intraday trading, it fell by as much as 1,001.74 points to hit a low of 80,149.53. Similarly, the NSE Nifty dropped by 309 points, or 1.25%, to settle at 24,472.10.
Among the 30 companies that make up the Sensex, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, Power Grid, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, and Reliance were the biggest losers. On the other hand, ICICI Bank, Nestlé, and Infosys managed to close in the green.
The selloff was largely driven by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who offloaded equities worth Rs 2,261.83 crore on Monday. In contrast, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) stepped in to purchase equities worth Rs 3,225.91 crore, exchange data showed.
On Tuesday, shares of Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the Indian arm of the South Korean automaker, made a muted debut on the stock market. The shares ended the day more than 7% lower than their issue price of Rs 1,960.
In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo closed lower, while Shanghai and Hong Kong managed to finish higher. European markets were trading in the red during the day, while US markets ended on a mixed note on Monday. Brent crude oil prices edged up by 0.61% to USD 74.74 per barrel.
Earlier on Monday, the BSE Sensex had already declined by 73.48 points, or 0.09%, to settle at 81,151.27. The NSE Nifty also fell by 72.95 points, or 0.29%, to 24,781.10, setting the stage for Tuesday's losses.
According to PTI, the Nifty opened Tuesday's session with a positive bias, climbing by 100 points in early trade to reach a high of 24,882. However, the gains were short-lived, as the index quickly reversed direction, entering negative territory for the rest of the day to finish down by 309 points.
On the sectoral front, all indices ended in the red, with the Nifty Bank index, which tracks the performance of 12 banking stocks, dropping 705.55 points, or 1.36%, to close at 51,257.15.
From the Nifty 50 index, only ICICI Bank, Nestlé, and Infosys closed in the green, while BEL, Mahindra & Mahindra, Coal India, and Adani Enterprises were the biggest losers, each falling by over 3%.
(With inputs from PTI)
