Sensex, Nifty tumble in early trade as FII outflows and global cues drag markets

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell sharply in early trade on Friday amid persistent foreign fund outflows and weak global cues. IT and tech stocks led the losses even as DIIs continued to support the market through strong buying.

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Friday as relentless foreign fund outflows and weak trends in global markets hit investors’ sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 631.93 points to 82,679.08 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 184.55 points to 25,325.15.

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From the Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Tata Consultancy Services and Maruti were among the biggest laggards.

However, ITC, ICICI Bank, Eternal and Power Grid were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index traded sharply lower. Shanghai’s SSE Composite index quoted marginally down.

US markets ended significantly lower on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,263.21 crore on Thursday, however, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 5,283.91 crore, according to exchange data.

“A significant feature of the present market trend is that despite the DIIs buying far more than what the FIIs are selling (Rs 5,283 crore DII buying vs Rs 3,263 crore FII selling yesterday) the market continues to drift down. The huge shorting by FIIs are overpowering the DII and investor buying in the market.

“The success of the FII strategy of sustained selling in India and moving money to cheaper markets has emboldened them to continue the strategy and continue shorting the market. Short covering can lead to trend reversal but there are no immediate triggers for that in sight. But markets have an uncanny ability to surprise,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.30 per cent to USD 63.57 per barrel.

On Thursday, the Sensex declined 148.14 points or 0.18 per cent to settle at 83,311.01. The Nifty dipped by 87.95 points or 0.34 per cent to 25,509.70.