Sensex drops over 100 pts in early trade; Nifty slips below 15,800

Mumbai, July 24: Equity benchmark Sensex tumbled over 100 points in early trade on Friday, tracking losses in index majors HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and L&T amid sustained foreign fund outflow.

After opening over 150 points higher, the 30-share BSE index pared all gains to trade 141.67 points or 0.27 per cent lower at 52,695.54 in initial deals, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 42.05 points or 0.27 per cent to 15,782.

L&T was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding around 1 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and Kotak Bank.

On the other hand, HCL Tech, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Titan and Maruti were among the gainers.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 638.70 points or 1.22 per cent higher at 52,837.21, while Nifty surged 191.95 points or 1.23 per cent to 15,824.05.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 247.59 crore on Thursday, as per provisional exchange data.

According to Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities, a sharp recovery in global markets propelled domestic equities to see sharp rebound on Thursday, while concerns over global growth due to recent rise in delta variants of coronavirus cases in different parts of the world continues to persist.

“However, we continue to believe that the underlying strength of the domestic market remains intact,” he said.

On the global front, US equities extended gains for the third consecutive day despite weak employment data as investors focused on strong report cards of corporate earnings, he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong were in the red, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with gains in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.33 per cent to USD 73.55 per barrel.

Source: PTI