Sensex, Nifty close flat amid unabated foreign fund outflows, muted earnings

The Sensex eked out gains of 9.83 points, or 0.01%, to settle at 79,496.15 and the Nifty dipped marginally by 6.90 points, or 0.03%, to 24,141.30. File

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed flat in highly volatile trade on Monday (November 11, 2024) as continuous Foreign Institutional Investors FII selling, disappointing quarterly earnings, and weak trends from Asian markets dented investor sentiment.

After gyrating between highs and lows, benchmark Sensex eked out gains of 9.83 points, or 0.01%, to settle at 79,496.15. The barometer gyrated 1,100.8 points, between the day’s high of 80,102.14 and a low of 79,001.34.

The NSE Nifty dipped marginally by 6.90 points, or 0.03%, to 24,141.30.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Asian Paints tumbled over 8% after the company on Saturday (November 9, 2024) reported a 43.71% decline in consolidated net profit to ₹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.

Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, JSW Steel, NTPC, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv and Larsen & Toubro were also among the laggards.

However, Power Grid, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and ICICI Bank were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,404.04 crore on Friday (November 8, 2024), according to exchange data.

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

“The actions of FIIs are dominating the current market momentum, which is backed by a weak set of earnings and expectations from Trump policy. The risk of further downgrades in Nifty earnings casts clouds over investor sentiment, while the IT sector continued to outperform due to the strong U.S. dollar and in anticipation of a revamp in US IT spending,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.

“India is also looking forward to the CPI data with a muted view as food prices are likely to be higher on a MoM basis, essentially forging RBI to hold the interest rates in the short term,” Mr. Nair added.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong settled lower while Tokyo and Shanghai ended higher.

European markets were trading on a firm note. Wall Street ended in positive territory on Friday (November 8, 2024).

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.83% to $73.26 a barrel.

On Friday (November 8, 2024), the BSE benchmark gauge declined by 55.47 points, or 0.07%, to settle at 79,486.32. The Nifty dipped 51.15 points, or 0.21% to 24,148.20.