Sensex, Nifty Fall: IT Stocks Drag, FII Sell-Off

Mumbai, Oct 31 (PTI) Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty fell for the second day on Thursday dragged down by losses in IT stocks and relentless foreign fund outflows.

Falling for the second day in a row, the BSE Sensex tumbled 553.12 points or 0.69 per cent to settle at 79,389.06. During the day, it slumped 654.25 points or 0.81 per cent to 79,287.93.

The NSE Nifty fell by 135.50 points or 0.56 per cent to 24,205.35.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Asian Paints, Infosys and Maruti Suzuki were the biggest laggards.

In contrast, Larsen & Toubro jumped over 6 per cent after the infrastructure major posted a 5 per cent rise in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,395 crore in the September 2024 quarter on account of higher income.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, JSW Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and Sun Pharma were also among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Wednesday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 4,613.65 crore, according to exchange data.

"The key benchmark indices traded with mild cuts while experiencing a broader sell-off in the technology sector due to weakness in the US IT companies, which has led the domestic IT companies to come under the shadow of underperformance.

"Investors remain cautious owing to weak domestic earnings for Q2. However, the market expects the momentum to reverse in H2 due to a rebound in core sector data and government spending, which are likely to influence the Samvat 2081 investment strategy," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.

The BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.62 per cent while midcap index dipped 0.34 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, BSE IT tumbled 2.55 per cent, teck (2.34 per cent), consumer durables (0.93 per cent) and financial services (0.49 per cent.

BSE healthcare, industrials, capital goods and utilities were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled lower while Shanghai ended in the green.

European markets were trading in the red. The US markets ended in negative territory on Wednesday.

"Markets traded under pressure on monthly expiry day, slipping over half a per cent. Early weakness in IT majors weighed on sentiment, with other sectors joining the decline later in the session. However, resilience in select heavyweight stocks helped limit the overall losses," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.36 per cent to USD 72.81 a barrel.

Equity markets will remain closed for regular trading hours on Friday. However, stock exchanges will conduct a special trading session, Muhurat Trading, for one hour on Friday evening, marking the start of the new Samvat 2081.

In October month, the BSE benchmark index fell sharply by 4,910.72 points or 5.82 per cent and the Nifty tumbled 1,605.5 points or 6.22 per cent.