Sensex Declines For 4th Day On Foreign Fund Outflows, Thin Year-end Trading; Nifty Ends Below 26,000

Benchmark Sensex declined by nearly 346 points while Nifty closed below 26,000 on Monday due to selling in utilities, IT and blue-chip oil & gas shares, foreign fund outflows and thin year-end trading.

Extending the downtrend to the fourth day running, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 345.91 points or 0.41 per cent to settle at 84,695.54. During the day, it dropped 403.59 points or 0.47 per cent to 84,637.86.

Registering its third day of decline, the 50-share NSE Nifty edged lower by 100.20 points or 0.38 per cent to 25,942.10.

Among 30 Sensex firms, Adani Ports was the biggest loser, dropping by 2.22 per cent. HCL Tech fell by 1.86 per cent, Power Grid by 1.85 per cent, Trent by 1.36 per cent, Bharat Electronics by 1.26 per cent and Bharti Airtel by 1.14 per cent.

Reliance Industries was a major drag on key indices, closing 0.88 per cent lower. According to sources, the government is seeking over USD 30 billion from Reliance Industries and BP as compensation, alleging the partners built larger-than-required facilities at the KG-D6 fields and subsequently failed to meet natural gas output targets.

Tata Steel was the biggest gainer among Sensex shares, rising by 1.83 per cent. Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, and Eternal also advanced.

"The market appears short on catalysts for further upside, with investors largely in holiday mode, signalling a potential consolidation phase in the near term," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said that market sentiment continues to be guided by global cues and stock-specific developments. "Trading volumes remained light, with participants preferring selective exposure rather than broad-based positions in the absence of any major triggers." Broader markets also came under pressure as the BSE smallcap gauge declined by 0.58 per cent and midcap index dipped by 0.45 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, utilities tanked the most by 0.91 per cent, followed by power (0.86 per cent), IT (0.80 per cent), BSE Focused IT (0.79 per cent), realty (0.76 per cent) and capital goods (0.71 per cent).

BSE telecommunication, PSU bank, oil & gas and FMCG ended higher.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi jumped over 2 per cent. Shanghai's SSE Composite index settled marginally higher, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading mostly lower.

US markets ended flat on Friday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 317.56 crore on Friday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 1,772.56 crore, according to exchange data.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 1.70 per cent to USD 61.67 per barrel.

On Friday, the Sensex dropped 367.25 points or 0.43 per cent to settle at 85,041.45. The Nifty declined by 99.80 points or 0.38 per cent to 26,042.30.