Stock Markets Fall in Early Trade As Fresh Foreign Fund Outflows Hurt Sentiment

 Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Thursday as fresh foreign fund outflows and no clarity on the future course of rate action by the US Federal Reserve dampened investors' sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 297.96 points to 84,699.17 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 90.05 points to 25,963.85.

From the Sensex firms, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, ITC, Tata Steel and Asian Paints were among the major laggards.

However, Larsen & Toubro, Eternal, Adani Ports and Maruti were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹2,540.16 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

"...FIIs turned net sellers in yesterday’s otherwise positive session. Wall Street’s overnight pause added to the cautious tone, with the Dow slipping after briefly crossing 48,000, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks pushing back expectations of a December rate cut further dampened sentiment," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Ltd, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index were trading in positive territory.

US markets ended on a mixed note on Wednesday.

"The Fed decision to cut rates by 25 bps came as expected and, therefore, it didn’t impact the market even though there is no clarity on the future course of rate action. The market will now focus more on the outcome of the Trump-Xi summit in South Korea," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.