Sensex, Nifty drop 1% on sustained foreign fund outflows, weak global trends

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slumped 1 per cent each on Tuesday due to widespread selling pressure amid uninterrupted foreign fund outflows and sluggish global trends.

The BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled 820.97 points or 1.03 per cent to settle at 78,675.18. During the day, it plunged 948.31 points or 1.19 per cent to 78,547.84.

Falling for the third day running, the NSE Nifty tanked 257.85 points or 1.07 per cent to 23,883.45.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, NTPC, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, Maruti and Power Grid were among the major laggards.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Infosys and ICICI Bank were the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹2,306.88 crore on Monday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) infused ₹2,026.63 crore in shares, according to exchange data.

"Two strong factors have been at play in this consolidating market. One, the relentless selling by FIIs has been favouring the bears and pulling the market down. Two, the sustained buying by DIIs has been supporting the market, and preventing a crash in it. How the market will trend in the coming days will depend on the relative strength of these two factors," V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in negative territory.

European equity markets were also trading in the red. Wall Street ended higher on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.56 per cent to $72.23 a barrel.

After gyrating between highs and lows, the BSE benchmark eked out a marginal gain of 9.83 points or 0.01 per cent to settle at 79,496.15 on Monday. The Nifty dipped marginally by 6.90 points or 0.03 per cent to 24,141.30.