Sensex, Nifty Slump: Foreign Fund Outflows Drag Markets Lower

Mumbai, Oct 18 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices slumped in early trade on Friday, falling for the fourth day running, amid relentless foreign fund outflows and selling in Infosys shares after its second quarter earnings failed to cheer investors.

The BSE Sensex tanked 570.45 points to 80,436.16 in early trade. The NSE Nifty slumped 178.3 points to 24,571.55.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Titan, Infosys, Maruti, Nestle, ITC, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank and Hindustan Unilever were the biggest laggards.

Infosys Ltd, India's second-largest IT services exporter, on Thursday reported a near 5 per cent rise in its second quarter net profit and raised revenue guidance for the year on broad-based recovery in demand particularly from its key financial industry clients.

Among the blue-chip pack, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel were the gainers.

Axis Bank's consolidated net profit for the September quarter rose by 19.29 per cent to Rs 7,401.26 crore, but the lender reported a pain in the unsecured lending segment.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 7,421.40 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

"The high valuations in India has been the main trigger for the sustained selling by FIIs," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

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

The US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.20 per cent to USD 74.60 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 494.75 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 81,006.61 on Thursday. During the day, it tumbled 595.72 points or 0.73 per cent to 80,905.64.

The NSE Nifty slumped 221.45 points or 0.89 per cent to 24,749.85.