Market Indices Fall Despite Initial Gains: Foreign Fund Outflows Continue

Mumbai, Oct 17 (PTI) Market benchmark indices climbed in opening trade on Thursday but later gave up all the initial gains and were trading lower amid unabated foreign fund outflows.

The BSE Sensex climbed 280.04 points to 81,781.40 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 58.2 points to 25,029.50.

However, later both the benchmark indices turned negative and were trading lower. The BSE benchmark gauge quoted 210.87 points lower at 81,265.97 while the Nifty traded 116.15 points down at 24,848.25.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Infosys, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma and Tata Consultancy Services were the biggest gainers.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,435.94 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

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

The US markets ended in the positive territory on Wednesday.

"Nifty slipped below the 25,000 mark in yesterday's trade, and while today's session seeks recovery, sentiment remains fragile due to persistent FII selling (with Rs 67,300 crore outflows in October), underwhelming Q2 earnings, ongoing Middle East tensions, and concerns over China's economic outlook," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.28 per cent to USD 74.43 a barrel.

Falling for the second day, the BSE benchmark declined by 318.76 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 81,501.36 on Wednesday. The Nifty declined by 86.05 points or 0.34 per cent to 24,971.30.