Stock Markets Trade Lower After Initial Rally on Foreign Fund Outflows, Selling in Blue-Chips

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty were trading lower after rallying in early trade on Tuesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and selling in blue-chip stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 379.86 points to 84,258.03 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty went up by 109.55 points to 25,899.80.

But, soon after both the benchmark indices gave up all initial gains and were trading lower. The 30-share BSE quoted 244.98 points lower at 83,627.36, and the Nifty traded 74.30 points down at 25,716.70.

From the 30-Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Tech, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Steel were among the biggest laggards.

Country's largest IT services exporter TCS on Monday reported a 13.91% drop in December quarter profit at ₹10,657 crore, majorly on a one-time impact of new labour codes.

IT services firm HCL Tech on Monday reported a 11.2% decline in consolidated net profit to ₹4,076 crore in the October-December quarter of FY26.

From the 30-share pack, Eternal, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank were among the gainers.

Meanwhile, retail inflation rose to a three-month high of 1.3% in December, mainly due to higher prices of food items, but remained below the Reserve Bank of India's lower tolerance level.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth ₹3,638.40 crore on Monday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth ₹5,839.32 crore, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi index, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index traded higher, while Shanghai's SSE Composite index quoted marginally lower.

US markets ended in positive territory on Monday.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.30% to $64.06 per barrel.

On Monday, the Sensex climbed 301.93 points or 0.36% to settle at 83,878.17. The Nifty edged higher by 106.95 points or 0.42% to 25,790.25.