Benchmark equity indices gave way to selling pressure towards the latter half of the session on September 25, ending lower for a fifth straight day, its longest streak in over six months.
At close, the Sensex was down 520.64 points or 0.64 percent at 81,194.99, and the Nifty was down 152.10 points or 0.61 percent at 24,904.80. About 1270 shares advanced, 2501 shares declined, and 111 shares unchanged. The Nifty and Sensex are now lower by more than 2 percent in the last five sessions.
The losses were led by a selloff in IT, realty and auto stocks, while the metal pack provided some support on the day of the monthly derivatives expiry for Sensex.
Persistent FII outflows, a record-weak rupee, and renewed worries over the U.S. H-1B visa fee hike seen as a drag on Indian IT earnings have all combined to sour sentiment, noted Hariprasad K, Founder, Livelong Wealth.
IT stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off, with the Nifty IT index plunging more than 6 percent this week on visa concerns. Frontline IT stocks like Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Tech traded deep in the red on Thursday. India VIX, often called the fear index, has surged nearly 9 percent over the past five sessions, reflecting rising nervousness and caution among market participants, he added.
Read More: India heads for busiest month for IPOs in nearly three decades
"The reforms being implemented in India along with the low interest rate regime have the potential to push economic growth and corporate earnings growth higher. This should bring FIIs back to the Indian market. But we don’t know when this will happen in a sustained basis. This is the right time for investors to continue accumulating high quality stocks. Patience is the key," suggested VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments.
The Nifty’s broader uptrend has slipped into a pause mode, with four straight sessions of lower closes and a visible pattern of lower highs on the daily chart. “The 25,000 mark now stands as a crucial support in order to sustain the bullish structure. While call writers have grown aggressive at at-the-money strikes, put writers are conceding ground and shifting to lower levels, pointing toward a consolidation bias,” said Dhupesh Dhameja of SAMCO Securities.
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