Indian stocks dip sharply on weak global market cues

Almost a fortnight ago, Indian stock indices had touched their fresh highs and in the process, the benchmark Sensex topped the 67,000 mark for the first time.

New Delhi: Indian stock indices traded sharply lower Wednesday, tracking weak cues from overnight US markets.

At the time of writing this report, Sensex and Nifty were almost one per cent lower from their previous day’s closing. All Nifty sectoral indices were in the red, with Nifty auto, Nifty metal, Nifty PSU bank, and Nifty private bank declining the most.

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Coming to specific stocks, NTPC, Hero Motocorp, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, and BPCL were the top five losers among the Nifty 50 group, while Divis Labs, Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, and HDFC Life were among the top gainers.

Almost a fortnight ago, Indian stock indices had touched their fresh highs and in the process, the benchmark Sensex topped the 67,000 mark for the first time.

The consistent inflow of foreign portfolio funds (net buyers in Indian stock markets for the fifth straight month), firm economic outlook, firm global markets, and a relative moderation in inflation contributed to the latest bull run in Indian stocks.

However, in the past few sessions, there has been a consistent but steady decline in both the indices, partly attributable to profit booking by investors on fears of high stock valuations, something flagged by analysts.