A vendor walks past by a poster of bear and bull in south Mumbai, reflecting the mood of the stock markets, as the BSE sensex went down by 640 points in early trader on August 2, 2024. File photo
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Friday, August 2, 2024, as investors rushed to book profits after record-breaking rallies in the past few sessions as well as tracking cues from global sell-offs.

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Massive selling in bellwether stocks like Reliance and ICICI Bank also dragged the investors’ sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 640.13 points to trade at 81,227.42 in the morning trade. The NSE Nifty declined 271.40 points to 24,739.50. Both the indices slumped up to 1 per cent during early deals.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki India, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Ports, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, and Tech Mahindra were the laggards.

HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Nestle India and ITC were among the gainers.

“The rally in India has been sustained more by money flows into the market than by fundamentals. Without fundamental support the rally cannot sustain. It remains to be seen whether the buy on dips strategy will work this time too. Since valuations are high some profit booking, particularly in mid and small caps, can be considered,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.78 per cent to USD 80.14 a barrel.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading lower.

The US stock market also ended lower on Thursday after a record rally.

Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth ₹2,089.28 crore in the capital markets on Thursday.

The 30-share Sensex climbed 126.21 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at a new lifetime high of 81,867.55, while NSE Nifty rose 59.75 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at an all-time closing peak of 25,010.90.

A monthly survey released on Thursday showed India’s manufacturing sector growth eased slightly in July, on softer increases in new orders and output, while cost pressures and demand strength led to the steepest increase in selling prices since October 2013.

The government’s GST collections in July rose 10.3 per cent to over Rs 1.82 lakh crore, mainly driven by domestic transactions in goods and services, according to official data released on Thursday.

Benchmark equity indices declined in early trade on Monday, August 14, 2023 falling for the third day running, amid weak global market trends and fresh foreign fund outflows.

Caution also prevailed in the market ahead of announcement of wholesale and retail inflation numbers for July later in the day.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 461.48 points to 64,861.17. The NSE Nifty declined 154.1 points to 19,274.20.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies and HDFC Bank were the major laggards.

Sun Pharma and Nestle were the gainers.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Friday.

Global oil benchmark, Brent crude, declined 0.85 per cent to $86.07 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,073.28 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

“The market construct has turned a bit negative. The spike in the dollar index to 103 and the US 10-year bond yield rising to 4.18 are negative for capital flows to emerging markets. The FPI sell figure of ₹3,073 crore last Friday is in tune with these negative trends,” said V.K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.