Stock market downward spiral continues; Sensex opens 400 points lower, Nifty below 24050

New Delhi| The trend of decline that has been going on in the stock market for some time continued on Monday also. Sensex fell 484.98 points to 79,001.34 in early trade on the first trading day of the week. Nifty was seen trading at the level of 24,004.60, slipping 143.6 points.

Benchmark sensitive indices Sensex and Nifty fell in early trade on Monday due to continued withdrawal of foreign funds, disappointing quarterly earnings and weak trend in Asian markets affecting investor sentiment. Forex traders said volatility in the equity market is expected to continue. Due to this, an environment of decline may continue in the near term.

BSE Sensex fell 484.98 points to 79,001.34 in early trade. Whereas NSE’s Nifty fell by 143.6 points to 24,004.60 points. Asian Paints, a 30-share Sensex company, fell more than 8 percent. The company reported on Saturday that its consolidated net profit declined 43.71 percent to Rs 693.66 crore in the September quarter. This decline was due to weak demand, material price inflation and decline in decorative and coating business in the domestic market.

Axis Bank, Adani Ports, Nestle, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel and IndusInd Bank were also among the lagging stocks. However, Tata Motors, Power Grid, Maruti and HCL Technologies remained in profit.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,404.04 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Prashant Taapsee, Senior Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities Limited, said that Indian markets are under pressure, mainly due to continuous selling by foreign investors.

In Asian markets, decline was recorded in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Wall Street closed in positive territory on Friday. “The continued uptick in U.S. markets, which has pushed the Dow and S&P 500 above 40,000 and 6,000 respectively, is no longer favorable for Indian markets”, said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services. In contrast, a worse-than-expected earnings decline for FY2025 in India is putting pressure on share prices, benefiting bears in the near future

Brent crude, the global oil standard, fell 0.42 percent to $73.56 a barrel. On Friday, BSE Sensex had closed at 79,486.32 points, down 55.47 points or 0.07 percent. Nifty had closed at 24,148.20 points, down 51.15 points or 0.21 percent.