December 08 (Siliguri Chronicle) – Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell in early trade on Monday, dragged down by losses in services and realty stocks along with continued foreign fund outflows.
The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 316.52 points, or 0.37%, to 85,395.85 in morning trade, while the NSE Nifty dropped 106.70 points, or 0.41%, to 26,079.75.
Among Sensex constituents, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki India, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, Hindustan Unilever and Larsen & Toubro were the major losers.
On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Eternal, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Tata Consultancy Services, Trent, HCL Technologies and Tata Steel were among the top gainers.
“Emerging positive and negative news have the potential to keep the market volatile in the near-term. Robust economic growth and indications of earnings growth revival are supportive of markets.
“The massive fiscal and monetary stimulus to the economy this year has contributed to sharp revival in GDP growth as evidenced by the 8.2 per cent Q2 GDP growth print, and RBI’s upward revision of FY 26 GDP growth to 7.3 per cent augurs well for the market,” VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.
He pointed out that a low GDP deflator, driven by muted inflation, has weighed on nominal GDP growth and corporate earnings. However, he added that leading indicators suggest earnings could grow by around 15% in FY27, which is a positive sign for the markets.
“However, there are strong negatives, too, which can impact the market. Sustained depreciation of the rupee has been forcing FIIs to sell in the market continuously,” Vijayakumar added.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹438.90 crore on Friday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased stocks valued at ₹4,189.17 crore, according to exchange data.
Across Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225, Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index and South Korea’s Kospi were trading in positive territory, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped into the red.
On Wall Street, major US indices closed higher on Friday.
“American equities posted modest, broad-based gains last week, supported by softer inflation data and resilient macroeconomic indicators that sustained expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts,” Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said.
He said investors remained cautious ahead of the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, fresh inflation data, and year-end portfolio adjustments.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, inched up 0.13% to USD 63.83 per barrel.
On Friday, the 30-share BSE Sensex had gained 447.05 points to close at 85,712.37, while the NSE Nifty rose 152.70 points to end at 26,186.45.
