Mumbai: Despite foreign funds’ inflow, an appreciation in rupee and hopes of budgetary sops, Indian equities markets slipped on Monday as negative global cues subdued investors’ sentiments.
The key indices traded around the flat line to close the day’s trade in the red — on a flat-to-negative note, as heavy selling pressure was witnessed in stocks of automobile, banking and consumer durables.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) inched down 8.50 points or 0.10 per cent, to 8,632.75 points.
The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,866.80 points, closed at 27,849.56 points — down 32.90 points or 0.12 per cent from the previous close at 27,882.46 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 27,947.37 points and a low of 27,813.32 points during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears — with 1,558 declines and 1,164 advances.
However, the BSE mid-cap index rose by 0.28 per cent, whereas the BSE small-cap index was down by 0.32 per cent.
On Friday last week, inflow of foreign funds and positive Asian indices pushed the benchmark indices to their highest levels in around three months.
The NSE Nifty had risen by 38.50 points or 0.45 per cent, to close at 8,641.25 points, while the BSE Sensex was up 174.32 points or 0.63 per cent.
“After trading flat for most part of the day, the benchmark indices settled marginally weak with the overall market breadth in the negative,” Vijay Singhania, Founder and Director of brokerage firm Trade Smart Online, told IANS.
“Traders remained on the sidelines ahead of the Union Budget, while sentiments remained on cautious note tracking cues from global markets as investors got spooked from (US President) Donald Trump’s protectionist stance.”
According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, telecom sector was the outperformer among the rest, as Idea and Vodafone merger talk boosted the overall telecom sector.
“European market started the week with a negative bias and inched down by more than one per cent as investors eyed on Trumps’ policies,” Desai said.
“Fresh buying from the FII (foreign institutional investors) side from last couple of trading sessions gave relief to the Indian investors,” he added.
The provisional data with exchanges showed that FIIs purchased stocks worth Rs 607.36 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought scrip worth Rs 40.04 crore.
In addition, the Indian rupee strengthened by nine paise to 67.95 against a US dollar from its previous close of 68.04 to a greenback.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE automobile index plunged by 194.88 points, followed by the banking index, which declined by 171.49 points, and the consumer durables index, which fell by 61.03 points.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE telecom index rose by 69.39 points, the Teck (technology, media and entertainment) index increased by 43.88 points, and the healthcare index was up by 24.53 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Monday were: Bharti Airtel, up 7.48 per cent at Rs 347.65; Reliance Industries, up 1.85 per cent at Rs 1,044.15; Sun Pharma, up 0.81 per cent at Rs 644.85; Asian Paints, up 0.71 per cent at Rs 975.95; and Infosys, up 0.66 per cent at Rs 948.35.
Major Sensex losers were: Tata Motors, down 2.18 per cent at Rs 532.50; Tata Steel, down 1.56 per cent at Rs 461.95; ONGC, down 1.42 per cent at Rs 201.65; State Bank of India (SBI), down 1.31 per cent at Rs 263; and Hero MotoCorp, down 1.11 per cent at Rs 3,180.45.