Markets slide as FII outflows, oil and US yields rise

Mumbai: Market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty extended losses for the fourth straight session on Thursday as heavy FII selling, high bond yields and a fresh spike in crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment. The BSE Sensex dropped 570.59 points, or 0.79 per cent, to settle at 71,909.70. The 30-share benchmark shed as much as 1,187.41 points to hit a fresh 52-week low of 71,292.88 during the session. The 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 198.50 points, or 0.88 per cent, to end at 22,421.95.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, ITC, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever and Eternal were the major laggards. Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Tech and HDFC Bank were among the winners. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 10,148.41 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. In five consecutive sessions till Wednesday, FIIs have offloaded equities worth Rs 34,203.14 crore. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 2.77 per cent to USD 100.8 per barrel.

"The market sell-off has been driven largely by external factors, with bond yields reaching multi-year highs and crude oil prices remaining elevated, raising concerns about the economic outlook for 2026–27," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said. The BSE SmallCap Select index tanked 0.96 per cent and the MidCap Select index was down 0.71 per cent. Among the BSE sectoral indices, Auto tumbled 3.09 per cent, Metal 2.18 per cent, Consumer Discretionary 2.07 per cent, Commodities 1.90 per cent, Utilities 1.71 per cent, Housing Finance 1.52 per cent, FMCG 1.51 per cent and Consumer Durables 1.35 per cent. IT, Telecommunication, Insurance and Hospitals were the winners. "The Nifty-50 has declined 7.9 per cent over the past eight weeks, marking its longest losing streak since 2020 and taking the index to a six-month low," Siddhartha Khemka - Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said. In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended sharply higher. Markets in Europe were trading lower.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Hans India