India’s key equity indices — S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, settled deep in the red on Friday as FIIs continued with their selling spree

New Delhi: India’s key equity indices — S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, settled deep in the red on Friday as FIIs continued with their selling spree.

On Friday, the FIIs pulled out Rs 2,069.90 crore worth of equity investments on the BSE, the NSE and the MSEI in the capital market segment.

Notably, the domestic indices declined five out of the past six sessions. Continued FII outflows is a concern in Indian equities, analysts opined. Besides, fresh global health concerns emanating from Covid-19 variant Omicron, too kept investors at bay.

“Top losers”

In the day’s trade, equity markets opened marginally lower and kept on declining all throughout the session. Among sectoral indices, barring IT, all declined on Friday. Among the stocks, Indusind Bank, Tata Motors, ONGC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Hindustan Unilever were some of the top losers, the NSE data showed.

These stocks dived 4.6 per cent, 4.4 per cent, 3.9 per cent, 3.5 per cent, 3.4 per cent, respectively. The Sensex and Nifty settled at 57,011 points and 16,985 points, down 1.54 per cent and 1.53 per cent from their previous close, respectively.

“Weak global sentiments inundated domestic indices as markets are digesting the hawkish stance of major international central banks amid surging omicron cases,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

“While the European Central Bank took a small step in rolling back the crisis-era stimulus although holding down borrowing costs next year, the Bank of England surprised the markets by raising interest rates for the first time since the onset of the pandemic”, he said.

“Continued FII selling created tensions among domestic investors”, Nair added.

“Earnings beat together with revised growth guidance by Accenture, however, helped the IT Index gain almost two per cent during the afternoon on a day when almost every other sectoral index ended deeply in the red,” said S. Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities.

“The Midcap and Smallcap indices were pounded as investors stayed back today amidst a hawkish Fed and rising domestic inflation data”, he added.