Indian stocks snapped two days of rise to end lower on Tuesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on Tuesday sold stocks of Indian companies worth ₹11,636.22 crore and bought stocks for ₹10,940.20 crore, resulting in an outflow of ₹696.02 crore, according to NSE data.
Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹6,479.49 crore and offloaded shares worth ₹6,139.24 crore, resulting in an inflow of ₹340.25 crore, the exchange data showed.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 237.72 points, 0.37%, to settle at 63,874.93. During the day, it fell 300.12 points, or 0.46%.
The Nifty dipped 61.30 points, or 0.32%, to 19,079.60.
Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research (retail) at Kotak Securities Ltd, said: “Weak Asian market cues saw key benchmark indices languish in negative territory for a major part of the trading session amid selling in banking, auto and IT stocks. Even as India has somewhat managed to shrug off global challenges amid strong growth numbers, persistent FII selling has caused local markets to falter over the past month or so. We may see a mixed trend for markets in the near to medium term.”
In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge gained 0.29% and smallcap index advanced 0.02%.
Among the indices, auto fell 0.58%, services declined 0.53%, teck (0.29%), metal (0.24%), IT (0.19%), oil & gas (0.18%) and industrials (0.16%).
Commodities, utilities, consumer durables and realty were the gainers.
Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said: “Market hit the pause button after 2 days of gains, despite positive Wall Street cues. Investors choose to remain on the sidelines ahead of the Fed Policy outcome on Wednesday. Also, weighing on sentiments and risk appetite however were the FIIs outflows, geopolitical uncertainty and Friday’s US jobs report.”
“Modest cautiousness returned post yesterday’s bounce, ahead of the US Fed policy meeting, dragging Asian and Developed markets. The Fed is widely expected to keep rates unchanged, and the commentary on the future path will be the crucial factor to influence further direction,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
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Updated: 31 Oct 2023, 09:01 PM IST
