Sensex, Nifty start on a tepid note amid sustained foreign fund outflows

Domestic equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty started on a tepid note Thursday tracking mixed cues from global markets amid sustained foreign fund outflows. The 30-share index was trading 8.25 points, or 0.02 per cent, higher at 37,123.13. The broader NSE Nifty was also trading 2.05 points, or 0.02 per cent, up at 11,159.05.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE bourse settled 203.65 points, or 0.55 per cent, lower at 37,114.88; and the Nifty shed 65.05 points, or 0.58 per cent, to settle at 11,157.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack include Tata Motors, Vedanta, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, PowerGrid, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI bank, NTPC, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, HUL, HCL Tech and Asian Paints, rising up to 3.39 per cent.

On the other hand, Kotak Bank, M&M, L&T, IndusInd Bank, Coal India ITC and HDFC twins fell up to 0.71 per cent. According to traders, sustained foreign fund outflow kept weighing on investor sentiment here.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equity worth Rs 1,142.44 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares to the tune of Rs 671.77 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

A mixed trend in global equities too kept market mood subdued on Dalal Street, traders said. Bourses in China, Japan and Korea were trading on a mixed note in their respective early sessions; while, Wall Street indices ended in the green on Wednesday.

On the currency front, rupee appreciated marginally to 70.31 against the US dollar in early trade. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading 0.56 per cent higher at USD 72.17 per barrel.