Sensex, Nifty Slump: Metal Stocks, FIIs Weigh

Mumbai, Dec 13 (PTI) Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slumped in early trade on Friday dragged down by metal stocks, foreign fund outflows and weak global cues.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled 412.8 points to 80,877.16 in early trade. The NSE Nifty tanked 129.85 points to 24,418.85.

Among the 30-share Sensex blue-chip pack, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India and Reliance Industries were the biggest laggards.

Bharti Airtel, Nestle, Adani Ports and Hindustan Unilever were the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,560.01 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Retail inflation declined in November to 5.48 per cent and came within the Reserve Bank's comfort zone mainly due to easing food prices, creating headroom for a rate cut at the central bank's rate-setting panel meeting under new Governor Sanjay Malhotra in February.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based headline inflation was at 6.21 per cent in October and 5.55 per cent in November 2023.

India's industrial production (IIP) growth slowed to 3.5 per cent year-on-year in October 2024, mainly due to poor performance of mining, power and manufacturing, as per official data released on Thursday.

"In the near-term the market has a headwind and a tailwind. The headwind is the resumption of selling by the FIIs who sold stocks for Rs 3,560 crore yesterday. Given the high valuations in India, FIIs are likely to sell more at every market rise.

"The tailwind which can support the market is the declining inflation," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower while Seoul quoted higher.

Wall Street ended in the negative territory on Thursday.

"The Federal Reserve's upcoming interest rate decision on December 18 has added to market uncertainty. FIIs sold heavily, dampening market sentiment further," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.04 per cent to USD 73.38 a barrel.

The 30-share BSE benchmark declined 236.18 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 81,289.96 on Thursday. The Nifty dropped 93.10 points or 0.38 per cent to 24,548.70.