Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty drifted lower in early trade on Wednesday after a day’s breather amid the ongoing tensions in West Asia and sustained foreign fund outflows.
Selling in blue-chip bank stocks also dragged the markets lower.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 96.12 points to 78,109.86 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 22.95 points to 24,238.65.
However, Mahindra & Mahindra and State Bank of India were the gainers.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹ 6,769.34 crore on Friday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth ₹ 7,068.44 crore, according to exchange data.
“Smart gains of 3,860 points on the Sensex and 1,157 points on the Nifty in October did not help the market scale up to a new record high. Profit-booking and FIIs again turning sellers prevented the continuation of the rally to record highs. Since the FII strategy of selling in India on rallies and moving money to other better-performing markets have paid them rich dividends, they can be expected to continue the same strategy now also.
“A change in this scenario will happen only when we have leading indicators suggesting a smart turnaround in India’s corporate earnings,” VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, said.
In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index were trading in positive territory.
US markets ended higher on Friday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.45 % to $ 65.06 a barrel.
On Friday, the Sensex tanked 465.75 points or 0.55 % to settle at 83,938.71. The Nifty fell by 155.75 points or 0.60 % to 25,722.10.
