Sensex, Nifty decline in early trade; HDFC Bank drags

Mumbai, Aug 13 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Tuesday dragged by blue-chip HDFC Bank and fresh foreign fund outflows.

Also mixed trends from global markets failed to give direction to the domestic equities.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 134.27 points to 79,514.65 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dipped 38.65 points to 24,308.35.

From the 30 Sensex firms, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Power Grid and Hindustan Unilever were the biggest laggards.

Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services and Axis Bank were among the gainers.

Nine of the ten Adani group firms bounced back during the early trade after declining sharply during intra-day on Monday.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Shanghai were quoting lower while Tokyo and Hong Kong traded in the positive territory.

The US markets ended on a mixed note on Monday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) again turned sellers on Monday as they offloaded equities worth Rs 4,680.51 crore after a day’s breather, according to exchange data.

Retail inflation declined to a five-year low of 3.54 per cent in July mainly on account of subdued prices of food items, and base effect, according to official data released on Monday.

“Market’s dismissal of the Hindenburg report as inconsequential is significant. The market which has been climbing all walls of worries has climbed this Hindenburg wall too, instilling confidence in retail investors and DIIs flush with money,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

The dip in CPI inflation in July to 3.54 per cent is positive, he added.

India’s industrial production slowed to a five-month low of 4.2 per cent in June 2024, mainly due to poor performance of the manufacturing sector, though power and mining sectors continue to perform well, as per official data released on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.90 per cent to USD 81.56 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark ended lower by 56.99 points or 0.07 per cent at 79,648.92 on Monday. The Nifty dipped 20.50 points or 0.08 per cent to 24,347.