Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai
Mumbai, May 13: After witnessing a historic surge in the previous session, Indian equity markets faced a bout of profit-booking on Tuesday morning, with key benchmark indices slipping sharply in early trade.
The BSE Sensex opened in the red and soon plunged 497.5 points to 81,932.40, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 117.2 points to 24,807.50. The selling pressure intensified as trading progressed, and by mid-morning, the Sensex was down 788.62 points at 81,641.28, and the Nifty had dropped 209.90 points to 24,714.80.
Among the laggards on the Sensex were tech giants and banks such as Infosys, Eternal, Power Grid, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, Tata Consultancy Services, and Nestle.
On the other hand, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Tata Steel bucked the trend and traded in positive territory.
Asian markets presented a mixed picture. While South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225, and Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index were trading positively, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng witnessed some declines.
On Wall Street, the sentiment was upbeat with major indices posting robust gains on Monday. The Nasdaq Composite surged by 4.35%, S&P 500 jumped 3.26%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.81%, boosted by optimism over easing US-China trade tensions.
According to VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, Monday’s sharp rally in Indian markets was not primarily driven by institutional activity. "The combined FII and DII buying amounted to just ?2,694 crore. This indicates that the upsurge was largely fuelled by short-covering and strong retail and HNI buying," he said.
He added that the temporary truce between the US and China, which includes a 90-day reduction in tariffs, could signal a cooling down of the long-standing trade war — a development that bodes well for the global economy.
The global oil benchmark Brent crude showed a minor decline of 0.23%, trading at USD 64.81 per barrel.
Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net buyers, having invested Rs 1,246.48 crore in Indian equities on Monday, according to exchange data.
On Monday, markets soared to their biggest single-day gains in absolute terms after geopolitical tensions eased. The Sensex jumped 2,975.43 points (3.74%) to end at 82,429.90, a seven-month high, while the Nifty surged 916.70 points (3.82%) to settle at 24,924.70.
This relief rally was triggered after India and Pakistan reached a ceasefire agreement, and the US and China announced a mutual deal to reduce tariffs, reviving global risk appetite.