Sensex, Nifty start 2025 on a weak note amid foreign fund outflows

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty traded lower in early trade on Wednesday, the first session of 2025, as unabated foreign fund outflows continued to dent investor sentiments.

Investors also remained cautious ahead of the start of earnings season next week.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex declined 171.81 points to 77,967.20 even after a positive beginning to the trade. The NSE Nifty also dipped 46.4 points to 23,598.40 after a muted opening.

From the 30 blue-chip pack, ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Maruti and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the laggards.

Asian Paints, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, HCL Tech and Bajaj Finserv were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,645.22 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

"The New Year begins on a sombre note for the Indian equity market. The near-term trend appears weak with the macro construct dominated by weak GDP and earnings growth," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"The headwinds from a strong dollar and high US bond yields will impact the market through more FII selling, at least in the early days of 2025. Even though FII selling is matched by DII buying, in this tug of war, in the near-term, sentiments are on the side of FIIs since valuations continue to be elevated and growth and earnings are yet to show signs of recovery," he added.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.88% to USD 74.64 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark Sensex declined 109.12 points or 0.14% to settle at 78,139.01 on Tuesday. The Nifty dipped marginally by 0.10 points to settle at 23,644.80.

In the entire 2024, the Sensex jumped 5,898.75 points or 8.16%, and the Nifty surged 1,913.4 points or 8.80%.