Sensex, Nifty slip in early trade, Rupee down; FPIs continue heavy selling

New Delhi: Benchmark indices slipped in early trade Tuesday, led by weakness in HDFC Bank and continued foreign fund outflows amid elevated geopolitical and oil-market uncertainty.

The BSE Sensex fell 58.89 points to 77,649.63 at the open, while the NSE Nifty dropped 22.45 points to 24,216.05.

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Rupee further depreciated 6 paise to 96.42 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday as heightened geopolitical uncertainty put pressure on most Asian currencies, including the rupee.

HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, Maruti and Eternal were among the biggest laggards; Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints and HCL Tech were in the gainers’ column.

Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 1,121.04 crore on Monday, exchange data showed. Brent crude traded down 0.63% at USD 88.66 a barrel, though strategists warned price uncertainty could still keep markets cautious. “Near-term market moves will be heavily influenced by crude trends. While Brent’s retreat to around USD 88 is positive, upside risk remains and will weigh on markets,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit.

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HDFC Bank slipped for a second day after quarterly margins disappointed. Regional and global cues also dampened risk appetite: US markets closed lower on Monday and Asian bourses were mixed — South Korea’s KOSPI and Japan’s Nikkei rose, Shanghai inched up and Hong Kong was marginally higher.

On Monday, the Sensex had ended down 442.93 points (0.57%) at 77,708.52 and the Nifty settled 95.80 points (0.39%) lower at 24,238.50.

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