Stock markets end lower for 8th day on the trot as bears tighten grip

Mumbai, Feb 28 (PTI) Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty continued their slide for the eighth straight day on Tuesday due to selling in oil & gas, pharma and banking stocks amid worries over further interest rate hikes.

Mixed global cues, selling by FIIs and caution by investors ahead of the release of key macroeconomic data also dented the market sentiment.

Paring its early gains, the BSE Sensex declined by 326.23 points or 0.55 per cent to settle at a four-month low of 58,962.12. During the day, it dropped 492.38 points or 0.83 per cent to 58,795.97.

The NSE Nifty dipped 88.75 points or 0.51 per cent to end at more than four-month low of 17,303.95 as 33 of its stocks declined.

The key indices have fallen for eighth day on the trot which is the longest losing run in more than three-and-a-half years.

From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries fell the most by 2 per cent. Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the other major laggards.

Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors and HDFC were the major gainers.

In Asian markets, South Korea, Japan, China ended higher, while Hong Kong settled in the red.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading mostly lower. The US markets had ended higher on Monday.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation will release the second advance estimate of the Gross Domestic Product for 2022-23 along with December quarter data on Tuesday evening.

“Global investors’ interest in the equity market is weakening due to the slowdown in the economy, led by high inflation and contractionary monetary policy. Inflows are being diverted to safe assets, and corporate earnings growth is dropping, affecting the performance of the stock market and demanding downgrade in valuation.

“The double whammy for India is that it is expensive compared to other EMs, resulting in underperformance among the global market,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

International oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.67 per cent to USD 83 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 2,022.52 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.