Stock markets fall in early trade on unabated foreign fund outflows

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices declined in early trade on Friday due to weak trends in global stock markets and unabated foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 251.25 points to 64,580.95, extending its previous day’s decline. The Nifty declined 65.85 points to 19,329.45.

Among the Sensex firms, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Maruti, Tata Motors and Nestle were the major laggards.

Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra and NTPC were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the negative territory.

The US markets ended lower on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,712.33 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

“Concerns are mounting as FIIs continue their persistent selling, potentially jeopardizing Nifty’s positive outlook. Additionally, Jerome Powell’s (Federal Reserve Chair) hawkish comments, signalling the possibility of further interest rate hikes in response to persistent inflation and robust economic growth, could lead to instability in today’s trading,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said in his pre-opening market comment.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.34 per cent to USD 80.28 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark declined 143.41 points or 0.22 per cent to settle at 64,832.20 on Thursday. The Nifty dipped 48.20 points or 0.25 per cent to 19,395.30.