After opening on a firm note, Indian benchmark indices slipped into negative territory in early trade on Tuesday, weighed down by persistent foreign institutional investor (FII) selling and weak performance across key sectors. Despite strong global cues, the domestic sentiment turned cautious, reflecting concerns over capital outflows.
At 9:31 AM, the BSE Sensex dropped 413.17 points, or 0.51%, to trade at 80,960.58. Similarly, the NSE Nifty50 declined 85.25 points, or 0.34%, to 24,631.35. The fall comes after FIIs offloaded equities worth ₹2,589.47 crore on Monday, intensifying pressure on frontline stocks. In contrast, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued to support the market, purchasing ₹5,313.76 crore worth of shares.
In a surprising move, the Bank Nifty touched a fresh all-time high of 56,161.40 during the opening session, before retreating 0.25%. Sectoral indices showed a mixed picture. Nifty Private Bank was the worst performer, falling 0.70%, followed by declines in FMCG (-0.26%), IT (-0.26%), and Pharma (-0.13%). Broader market indices, however, continued to outperform with Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 gaining 0.26% and 0.59% respectively.
Among individual stocks on the Nifty50, 36 stocks were in the red while 14 posted gains. Adani Enterprises (-1.81%) and Adani Ports (-1.52%) led the losers’ list, followed by Bajaj Finance (-0.95%), SBI Life Insurance (-0.88%), and Tata Consumer Products (-0.82%). On the gaining side, Shriram Finance rose 1.32%, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra (0.69%), HDFC Bank (0.45%), ONGC (0.45%), and Tata Steel (0.29%).
Despite the early decline, market breadth on the NSE remained positive. Of the 2,489 stocks traded, 1,683 were in the green, 734 declined, and 72 remained unchanged. A total of 45 stocks touched their 52-week highs while only 12 hit their yearly lows. Additionally, 53 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 32 were locked in their lower circuits.
Meanwhile, global markets remained upbeat. Wall Street posted modest gains on Monday, with the Dow Jones rising 0.08%, S&P 500 up 0.41%, and Nasdaq advancing 0.67%. Asian markets followed suit, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gaining 1.33%, Shanghai Composite up 0.48%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbing 0.28%.
The India VIX, a measure of market volatility, edged up by 2.01% to 17.50, indicating heightened investor caution ahead of key domestic and global developments.
