Markets decline in early trade amid unabated foreign fund outflows, muted earnings

Stock markets closed lower for the second straight day on Friday amid relentless foreign fund outflows and losses in blue-chip stocks Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India.

Mumbai: Benchmark sensitive indices Sensex and Nifty fell in early trade on Monday as continuous foreign fund outflows, disappointing quarterly earnings and weak trends from Asian markets dented investors' sentiment.

Forex traders said the volatility in the equity market is likely to continue as the short-term trend continues to be choppy, and this consolidation is likely to continue in the near-term with a weak bias.

The BSE benchmark Sensex fell by 484.98 points to 79,001.34 in early trade. The NSE Nifty declined 143.6 points to 24,004.60.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Asian Paints tumbled over 8 per cent after the company on Saturday reported a 43.71 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 693.66 crore for the September quarter, impacted by soft-demand conditions, material price inflation and a decline in decorative and coatings business in the domestic market.

Axis Bank, Adani Ports, Nestle, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel and IndusInd Bank were also among the laggards.

However, Tata Motors, Power Grid, Maruti and HCL Technologies were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,404.04 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said, Indian markets remain under pressure, largely due to relentless foreign investor selling.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were quoting lower.

Wall Street ended in the positive territory on Friday.

"The sustained rally in the US markets which have taken the Dow and S&P 500 above 40,000 and 6,000 respectively is no longer a tailwind for Indian markets. In India, in contrast, worse-than-expected earnings downgrades for FY25 are weighing on stock prices favouring the bears in the near-term," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.42 per cent to $73.56 a barrel.

On Friday, the BSE benchmark gauge Sensex declined by 55.47 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 79,486.32. The Nifty dipped 51.15 points or 0.21 per cent to 24,148.20.