Indian equity benchmarks opened Wednesday’s session on a weak note as investors remained cautious amid geopolitical stress and continued foreign investor outflows. Concerns surrounding geopolitical developments in the Middle East and their potential impact on inflation and economic growth have kept market participants on edge.
The benchmark indices slipped into the red during the morning trade. Around 12:45 pm, the BSE Sensex was down 908.43 points, or 1.16 per cent, at 77,297.55. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty 50 declined 1252.60 points, or 1.04 per cent, to trade at 24,009.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, noted, “The FII vs DII game is back to the last one-year pattern of sustained selling by FIIs being more than matched by sustained buying by DIIs. Given the continuing indifference of FIIs towards India and the sustaining inflows into Indian equity mutual funds, this game is likely to continue in the near-term.”
FIIs Flow
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the previous trading session, extending the recent trend of overseas outflows from Indian equities. On March 10, FIIs sold shares worth Rs 4,673 crore in the cash market.
In contrast, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued to provide support to the market. They recorded net purchases exceeding Rs 6,333 crore during the same period, helping cushion the impact of foreign selling.
Profit Booking
The decline on Wednesday also reflects some degree of profit-taking after the market’s rebound in the previous session. On Tuesday, benchmark indices had managed to recover after breaking a brief losing streak.
The Nifty 50 ended the previous trading session around 24,261, while the Sensex settled close to 78,206. The gains were supported by broad-based buying across several sectors as concerns around global risks temporarily eased.
Auto, financial services, and consumer-related stocks had led the previous session’s recovery. However, some weakness was observed in select information technology and oil & gas stocks.
In early trade on Wednesday, sectoral indices for auto, financials, IT, and FMCG stocks slipped between 0.4 per cent and 0.6 per cent, contributing to the overall market decline.
Middle East Conflict Adds To Investor Anxiety
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East remain a key factor influencing market sentiment. Reports indicate that the United States and Israel carried out what some observers described as the heaviest strikes of the conflict against Iran.
At the same time, US President Donald Trump suggested earlier this week that the conflict might be nearing an end. He said the war could be “over soon.”
