Stock markets fall in early trade on foreign fund outflows, weak US equities

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices declined in early trade on Wednesday amid weak trends in the US markets and continuous foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 202.34 points to 65,743.13. The Nifty declined 60.55 points to 19,604.15.

Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Titan and ICICI Bank were the major laggards.

Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo were trading in negative territory while Shanghai and Hong Kong were quoted in the green.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.99 per cent to USD 94.89 a barrel.

"Foreign fund outflows have been the biggest constraint in the month so far. Besides, uptick in global oil prices and worries over more rate hikes in the near term are keeping investors in a tight spot," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 693.47 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

"The triple whammy of rising dollar, spiking US bond yields and high Brent crude continues to impact Indian equity markets. The cues from the mother market US also are negative," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

The BSE benchmark fell 78.22 points or 0.12 per cent to settle at 65,945.47 on Tuesday. The broader Nifty dipped 9.85 points or 0.05 per cent to end at 19,664.70.