The Indian stock market closed in negative territory on Monday, continuing its downward trend amid persistent foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows and concerns over a potential delay in the India-US trade agreement.
The Sensex ended the day at 80,891.02, down 572.07 points or 0.70 per cent. It opened on a weak note at 81,299.97, compared to the previous close of 81,463.09, and fell further to touch an intraday low of 80,776.44 due to selling pressure in heavyweights, particularly in the IT sector.
The Nifty also declined, settling at 24,680.90, down 156.10 points or 0.63 per cent.
“Domestic market sentiment has remained cautious, weighed down by a disappointing set of Q1 earnings, delays in the India-US trade agreement, and continued FII outflows,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
In contrast, global markets were broadly positive, buoyed by relatively less worrisome developments in US-EU trade relations, Nair added.
Investors are now closely watching upcoming monetary policy decisions from the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan, along with the trajectory of domestic quarterly earnings, which are expected to play a critical role in determining market direction in the near term.
Among the major laggards on the Sensex were Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Titan, TCS, HCL Tech, SBI, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, and Mahindra & Mahindra. On the positive side, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, and ICICI Bank managed to end in the green.
Broader market indices also felt the pressure. The Nifty 100 dropped 157 points or 0.62 per cent, the Nifty Midcap 100 declined 490 points or 0.84 per cent, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 lost 229 points or 1.26 per cent.
Sectorally, the sell-off was widespread. Bank Nifty fell 444 points, Nifty Financial Services dropped 192 points, Nifty IT declined 253 points, and Nifty Auto slipped 88 points.
Meanwhile, the rupee weakened by 0.10 per cent, ending at 86.65, as bearish sentiment in capital markets exerted additional pressure.
“The upcoming week is expected to remain volatile due to key global triggers, including the August 1 trade deal deadline with the US and major US data releases. The rupee is likely to trade in the range of 86.25–86.90,” said Jateen Trivedi, Analyst at LKP Securities.
–IANS