Mumbai: Stock markets in India continued to fall for the third straight day on Tuesday, with both the Sensex and Nifty dropping around 1 per cent. Big companies like HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, and ICICI Bank pulled the market down.
The BSE Sensex fell by 872.98 points or 1.06 per cent to close at 81,186.44. During the day, it went down by as much as 905.72 points to touch 81,153.70. Similarly, the NSE Nifty slipped by 261.55 points or 1.05 per cent to settle at 24,683.90.
Experts said that investors sold shares to take profits and stayed cautious as they waited for more news on the trade deal between India and the US. The lack of new positive developments and concerns about the US economy also added to the weak mood.
Among the companies listed on the Sensex, Eternal lost the most, falling by 4.10 per cent. Other major losers included Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, Nestle, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, and Asian Paints. HDFC Bank dropped by 1.26 per cent, while Reliance Industries fell by 1.13 per cent.
A few stocks managed to rise, including Tata Steel, Infosys, and ITC.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said that due to high market valuations and uncertainty about the trade deal, investors are being careful. He said this might lead foreign investors to pull out some of their money from the Indian market in the short term.
In other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei, China’s Shanghai index, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed higher. South Korea’s Kospi saw a small drop. European markets were also trading in the green, while US markets ended higher on Monday.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, went down slightly by 0.11 per cent to $65.47 per barrel.
Foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 525.95 crore on Monday, according to stock exchange data.
On Monday, the Sensex had already fallen by 271 points and the Nifty by 74 points, continuing the recent downward trend.
(With PTI Inputs)
