MUMBAI– The Indian stock market closed in negative territory on Monday, pressured by foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows, selling in heavyweight stocks, and concerns over a possible delay in the India-U.S. trade agreement.
The BSE Sensex fell 572.07 points, or 0.70 percent, to close at 80,891.02. The 30-share index opened weak at 81,299.97, down from the previous close of 81,463.09, and continued to slide, touching an intraday low of 80,776.44. The decline was led largely by losses in IT and financial stocks.
The NSE Nifty also ended lower, settling at 24,680.90, down 156.10 points or 0.63 percent.
“Domestic market sentiment has remained cautious, weighed down by a disappointing set of Q1 earnings, delays in the India-U.S. trade agreement, and continued FII outflows,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
In contrast, global markets remained broadly positive, buoyed by relatively reassuring developments in U.S.-EU trade talks. Attention now shifts to the upcoming monetary policy decisions from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan, along with domestic earnings reports, which are expected to influence near-term market direction.
Among the major Sensex losers were Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Titan, TCS, HCL Tech, SBI, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, and Mahindra & Mahindra. In contrast, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, and ICICI Bank managed to end in the green.
Broader market indices also came under pressure. The Nifty 100 dropped 157 points (0.62 percent), the Nifty Midcap 100 lost 490 points (0.84 percent), and the Nifty Smallcap 100 declined 229 points (1.26 percent).
Sectoral indices reflected the selling pressure as well. The Bank Nifty dropped 444 points, Nifty Financial Services declined by 192 points, Nifty IT fell 253 points, and Nifty Auto ended 88 points lower.
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee weakened by 0.10 percent to close at 86.65 against the U.S. dollar, impacted by capital market weakness.
“The week ahead is expected to remain volatile with key global triggers including the August 1 trade deal deadline with the U.S., along with major U.S. economic data releases. The rupee is likely to trade in a range of 86.25 to 86.90,” said Jateen Trivedi, Analyst at LKP Securities. (Source: IANS)
