Indian equity indices opened lower on Friday, with heavyweights such as Axis Bank and Bharti Airtel among the top losers on the BSE benchmark.
At 9:25 am, the Sensex was down 171 points or 0.21% at 82,087, while the Nifty slipped 35 points or 0.14% to 25,075.
In the Sensex pack, M&M, Tata Steel, Power Grid, L&T, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Tata Motors, BEL, NTPC, TCS, Trent, and Maruti Suzuki emerged as top gainers. On the other hand, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Eternal (Zomato), HUL, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Titan, and Bajaj Finserv were among the major losers.
On the sectoral front, auto, IT, PSU banks, metal, realty, media, energy, infrastructure, PSE, and commodities witnessed gains, while financial services, FMCG, and private banks traded in the red.
“In July so far, India has underperformed most global markets, with the Nifty slipping by 1.6%. A key contributor to the decline has been consistent selling by FIIs. There’s a clear pattern in FII activity this year,” said Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
“They were net sellers in the first three months, turned buyers for the next three, and now in the seventh month, the trend has again shifted toward selling — unless some positive triggers reverse the current downtrend,” he added.
On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers for the second consecutive session on July 17, offloading equities worth ₹3,694 crore. Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued their buying streak for the ninth straight session, purchasing equities worth ₹2,820 crore.
Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research at Axis Securities, noted that the Nifty ended lower for the fifth time in seven sessions on Thursday, but still held above the rising trendline drawn from the May 9 lows.
“Technically, Thursday’s daily candle formed a bearish engulfing pattern, which aligns with our earlier view — that a close above 25,245 and then 25,340 was necessary for bulls to regain control. Hence, 25,000 remains a crucial support level, while 25,340 acts as key resistance,” he said.
In Asia, markets were mostly trading in the green, with Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Jakarta posting gains, while Tokyo and Seoul traded lower. US markets closed higher on Thursday, buoyed by positive investor sentiment.
-IANS