The 50-share NSE Nifty also cracked the 10,600-level by falling 259 points, or 2.39 per cent, to close at 10,599.25 after hitting a low of 10,547.25.
Equity benchmarks extended their decline for the fourth straight session on Wednesday, with the Sensex falling 214.85 points after the Reserve Bank raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points. Continuous foreign fund outflows and surging crude oil prices also weighed on markets. The 30-share BSE benchmark dropped 214.85 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 54,892.49.
In the Sensex pack, Vedanta took the biggest hit (5.55 per cent), followed by Tata Motors, SBI, Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel and Infosys, which lost up to 4.50 per cent.
Titan was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding 1.39 per cent, followed by HDFC, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra. On the other hand, Asian Paints, SBI, M&M, TCS, Bajaj Finserv and ICICI Bank were among the winners, spurting as much as 3.25 per cent.
Losses largely came from the metal index, followed by power, infrastructure, realty, PSU, oil and gas, capital goods, FMCG, healthcare, auto and banking.
Except for September quarter, which had net inflows of $196 million, all other quarters had outflows.
The rupee had shed one paise to end at one-month low of 61.74 against the US dollar in Tuesday's trade.
Equity mutual funds attracted an all-time high net inflow of Rs 28,463 crore in March, on continued interest by retail and HNI investors, who used market correction as a good buying opportunity.
Yes Bank and Tata Motors were the biggest losers in the Sensex pack, slumping 8 per cent.
FPIs have turned net sellers in 2022 after being net buyers in the last three years.
The expectations of a borrowing cut by the government faded among bond-market participants after the general election results because they feel the compulsions of running a coalition may put pressure on the exchequer, according to dealers. The recent trend of moderate depreciation in the rupee's nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) might not persist if there are significant changes to the structural reform agenda.
On the Sensex chart, Axis Bank, Titan, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's, HDFC and Asian Paint were major losers.
In a remarkable comeback, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pumped Rs 1.7 lakh crore into the Indian equity markets in 2023, propelled by confidence in the country's robust economic fundamentals amid a challenging global landscape. The year 2023 has witnessed massive investment by FPIs, thanks to the sharp uptick in inflows of Rs 66,134 crore in December. Going forward, FPI flows are expected to be robust.
It can be noted that the rupee lost nearly 7 per cent since the beginning of May as FIIs have pulled out nearly $4 billion from the domestic debt, as bond yields fell on expectation of RBI cutting rates on Monday.
The Nifty too ended lower by 121 points, or 1.19 per cent.
Indian markets on Thursday shrugged off any negative impact.
Smaller stocks have emerged as Dalal Street's favourites in 2023 that has turned out to be a "great year" for equities, rewarding investors with big gains, driven by optimism over the country's macroeconomic fundamentals and heavy retail investors participation. Experts said equity markets are experiencing a prolonged bull run and it is during this time that the midcap and smallcap segments tend to outshine their larger counterparts. Till December 22 this year, the BSE smallcap gauge has jumped 13,074.96 points or 45.20 per cent while the midcap index has surged 10,568.18 points or 41.74 per cent.
India's current account deficit narrowed sharply to just $300 million
After withdrawing record funds in 2021-22, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) continued their sell-off in the last fiscal too and pulled out Rs 37,631 crore from Indian equities amid aggressive rate hikes by central banks globally. The outflow trend is likely to reverse in the current financial year since India has the best growth potential in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said. Market analysts believe that FPI flows in the current financial year would be decided by a host of factors, such as the US Federal Reserve's policy stance, oil prices movement and development in the geopolitical situation.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 20,170 crore ($2.4 billion) recently. This marked the fifth-highest weekly outflow from overseas funds since the beginning of 2008 and the largest since the last week of March 2020. Due to the Covid scare, FPIs had sold shares worth Rs 21,951 crore during that week, causing the market to decline by nearly 20 per cent.
RBI will take a cue from the Fed policy statement.
The value of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) in Indian equities was at $542 billion in the March quarter of 2023, a decline of 11 per cent from the preceding year, largely due to the exodus of foreign money from the domestic market, according to a Morningstar report. In comparison, the value of FPI in Indian equities was $612 billion in the January-March quarter of 2022. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the value of FPI in Indian equities fell by 7 per cent from $584 billion recorded in the three months ended December 2022.
Waves of foreign portfolio investments worth over Rs 51,000 crore splashed into the Indian market in 2021 as overseas investors turned net buyers of domestic securities for the third straight year while excess global liquidity and other factors steered the ebb and flow of their investing ways. With the global financial system still flush with liquidity, emerging market assets, especially equities, might well remain the preferred investment avenue for many more months to come, experts opined. As the equities sizzled during most of 2021, that also saw economy slowly coming back into the recovery path, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) turned net buyers but their investment is much less compared to net inflows of Rs 1.03 lakh crore in 2020.
'The good news is that money continues to flow into India-focussed offshore funds.'
'To the believers of crypto regulations, I have only one question to ask, how will you regulate it?'
The domestic currency tumbled by 45 paise or 0.68 per cent in two days.
The exports in 2022-2023 was $79 billion, compared to imports of $50 billion.
The Rupee on Thursday breached the 49-mark against the US dollar and fell by 52 paise in early trade following increased capital outflow by foreign funds due to melting stock markets.
Kotak Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2 per cent, followed by ITC, PowerGrid, M&M, HDFC, Asian Paints and NTPC. On the other hand, Maruti rallied over 4 per cent. Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finance were also among the gainers.
Investors continue to back-up equity mutual funds in June as such schemes attracted a net inflow of Rs 15,498 crore on strong flows from systematic investment plans despite volatility in the stock market and relentless selling by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs). This also marked the 16th straight month of positive inflow in equity schemes. Inflows into equity mutual funds in June was lower compared to the net inflow of Rs 18,529 crore seen in May, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed on Friday.
Liquidity in the banking system has slipped into a deficit for the first time in three weeks, prompting banks to borrow the largest quantum of funds from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in around a month and a half. The key catalyst for the sudden tightening in liquidity was due to outflows on account of advance tax payments, which occur towards the end of a quarter. Analysts also cited other factors such as a currency leakage and possible interventions by the RBI in the foreign exchange market, which contributed to the tighter liquidity conditions.
After turning net buyers last month, foreign investors have become aggressive shoppers of Indian equities and have invested Rs 22,452 crore in the first two weeks of August amid softening inflation concerns. This was way higher than a net investment of nearly Rs 5,000 crore by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) in the entire month of July, data with depositories showed. FPIs had turned net buyers for the first time in July, after nine straight months of massive net outflows, which started in October last year.
TCS and Infosys were the top losers in the Sensex pack, falling up to 3.39 per cent.
Equity indices gave up early gains to close in the red for the third session on the trot on Wednesday, weighed by selling in banking and finance counters amid inflationary pressures and persistent foreign fund outflows. A weak rupee and lacklustre global cues also kept buying sentiment in check, traders said. The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a firm footing but failed to hold on the momentum, finishing 237.44 points or 0.41 per cent lower at 58,338.93. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty dipped 54.65 points or 0.31 per cent to close at 17,475.65.
The Sensex finally ended down 233 points at 18,541. Nifty ended down 77 points at 5,590.
Global research firm Citigroup, citing data compiled by emerging market fund flow tracker EPFR, said in a report that of the outflows registered by Asian funds, investors put in $209.9 million in China-dedicated funds. Meanwhile, Asian equity funds inflow declined to $46 million in the first week of December, while it was at $350 million in the third week of November.
Fresh demand for the US currency from importers and banks alongside sustained capital outflows by foreign funds weighed on the local unit
These investors have pumped in about Rs 6,900 crore (Rs 69 billion) in the seven trading sessions after the Federal Open Market Commission meet.
The index widened its loss towards the fag-end on emergence of intense selling in heavyweights like ITC, RIL and ICICI Bank. In percentage terms, however, Sun Pharma was the biggest loser with 9.39 per cent drop. Intra-day, the pharma major's shares tanked over 20 per cent.
While there are no specific data for money that could be of Indians, this includes outflows to the tune of 100 billion Swiss francs that are related to fine payments in the context of declaration of untaxed money, as per a new study by PwC.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances