Markets end marginally lower after a day’s breather amid foreign fund outflows

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower on Tuesday as uninterrupted foreign fund outflows and slowdown in corporate earnings continued to hit investors’ sentiment.

After a day’s breather, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex ended 29.47 points or 0.04 per cent lower at 75,967.39. Intra-day, it dropped 465.85 points or 0.61 per cent to 75,531.01.

The NSE Nifty dipped 14.20 points or 0.06 per cent to settle at 22,945.30.

From the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC and Asian Paints were among the biggest laggards.

NTPC, Zomato, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HCL Tech were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,937.83 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

“On Tuesday, the Indian blue-chip equity indices, Sensex and Nifty-50, closed with a slight decline, primarily due to a slowdown in earnings and concerns over ongoing foreign selling, which affected market sentiment,” Ameya Ranadive, Chartered Market Technician, CFTe, Sr Technical Analyst, StoxBox, said.

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

European markets were quoting mostly lower.

US markets were closed on Monday in observance of ‘President’s Day’.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.73 per cent to USD 75.77 a barrel.

The Sensex climbed 57.65 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 75,996.86 on Monday, ending an eight-day losing run. The Nifty rebounded 30.25 points or 0.13 per cent to 22,959.50.