Cues from Asia were largely mixed. Even as US stocks closed at record highs overnight, the gains were modest at best. Back home, there were some concerns over persistent foreign outflows, which stood at Rs 5,103 crore so far in November.
FPIs, who used to dictate market trends, are now playing second fiddle in Indian markets with DIIs and retail investors calling the shots, said V K Vijayakumar of Geojit Financial Services.
“The big FPI selling in July (Rs 11,308 crore) and October (Rs 13,550 crore) didn’t impact the market. On Monday, FII selling of Rs 861 crore was overwhelmed by the DII buying of Rs 1,912 crore. So long as this trend continues, markets will remain resilient despite high valuations,” he said.
“An important feature of DII activity now is buying in large caps. There is a near consensus that the returns in 2022 will be modest and therefore, safety will be in performing largecaps,” the analyst added.
At 9.22 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 60,493, down 52 points or 0.09 per cent. The NSE barometer Nifty50 traded at 18,056, down 12 points or 0.07 per cent.
In stock-specific moves, shares of Britannia plunged 4 per cent to Rs 3,562 on reporting a 23 per cent decline in consolidated PAT for the September quarter. Vedanta dropped 2.68 per cent to Rs 315.95. The mining company announced the delisting of American Depositary Shares (ADR) from the New York Stock Exchange at the close of trading on Monday.
Sobha, meanwhile, jumped 8 per cent on clocking a nearly three-fold jump in its consolidated September quarter profit at Rs 48.3 crore.
Among Sensex stocks, HDFC twins fell 0.8 per cent each. Power Grid declined 0.6 per cent to Rs 187.95, ahead of its quarterly earnings.
Nestle India, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finserv declined 0.3-0.5 per cent.
Auto major M&M rose 1.6 per cent to Rs 872 ahead of its September quarter results. The tractor maker is likely to report a double-digit rise in standalone profit for the September quarter on a single-digit rise in net sales, thanks to a rise in dividend payments from Tech Mahindra and M&M Financial Services. Margins are likely to fall over 400 basis points on yearly basis to around 13 per cent.
Shares of Sun Pharma and IndusInd Bank rose 1 per cent each.
“Traders are advised not to carry aggressively bets on the long side as long as Nifty50 remains below 18,000-18,100 on a closing basis. On the flip side, the index may see this corrective move extending towards 17,450 first and 17,200-17,000 later, if things get worsened. This week would be quite crucial for the market as it may dictate the near term direction,” said Sameet Chavan of Angel Broking.
