01 October,2026 10:09 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Image. File pic.
The domestic equity market benchmark indices continued to decline in the early trade on Thursday amid geopolitical uncertainties, elevated crude oil prices and persistent foreign fund outflows thar weighed on investor sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex shed 206.72 points or 0.29 per cent to 72,273.57 in the early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty slumped 100.80 points or 0.45 per cent to 22,519.65 in the early deals.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, bank and IT stocks gained in the initial trade. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, HCL Tech, TCS, HDFC bank, Axis Bank and State bank of India were the gainers. The shares of Kotak Mahindra bank traded 2.83 per cent higher.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Ultra Tech Cement, Eternal, Maruti Suzuki and Bharat Electronics were the major laggards. Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra declined 2.15 per cent in the early deals.
On Wednesday, the benchmark indices pared their intraday gains, as the Sensex slipped 48.78 points, or 0.07 per cent, to settle at 72,480.29, while the Nifty dropped 95.75 points, or 0.42 per cent, to end at 22,620.45.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were the net sellers as they offloaded equities worth Rs 10,148.41
crore, while domestic institutional investors were net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 11,271.73 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
"The sustained FII selling became intense during the last two trading days when the FIIs sold equity for a total of Rs 20,128 crore. With the US 10-year bond yield rising further to 5.3 per cent, FIIs may continue to sell," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments said.
He pointed out that while FIIs have been selling through the exchanges, they have been consistently investing through the primary market and also buying expensive mid-and small-caps.
"While FIIs sold equity for Rs 45,536 crores through the exchanges in September, they invested Rs 9,676 crores through the primary market. The strength in the US bond yields and expectations of further weakness in the Indian large-caps might be the reason for this apparently inconsistent FII activity," he added.
"A durable easing in crude or (US) Treasury yields could help the index reclaim 22,800 and extend recovery toward 23,000," Hemang Gor, Senior Research Analyst- Derivatives and Technical Research, Axis Direct said.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 were trading higher. The stock exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed for a holiday.
