Sensex, Nifty close marginally lower amid thin year-end trading, foreign fund outflows weigh

Mumbai, Dec 30: Stock markets ended marginally lower on Tuesday amid thin year-end trading as persistent foreign fund outflows and a muted trend in global equities weighed on investors’ sentiment.
Falling for the fifth consecutive day, the 30-share BSE Sensex dipped 20.46 points or 0.02 per cent to settle at 84,675.08. During the day, hit a high of 84,806.99 and a low of 84,470.94, gyrating 336.05 points.
Ending the day on a flat note, the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 3.25 points or 0.01 per cent to 25,938.85.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Eternal, Infosys, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech and Titan were among the biggest laggards.
However, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv and Axis Bank were among the biggest gainers.
“Indian equity markets ended flat in a lacklustre session amid mixed global cues, overshadowing strong November IIP data showing 6.7 per cent growth-the highest in 25 months. Muted year-end activity and persistent concerns over FII outflows kept investors on the sidelines,” Siddhartha Khemka – Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.
The BSE smallcap gauge declined by 0.20 per cent and midcap index dipped 0.05 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, consumer durables lost 0.81 per cent, followed by IT (0.81 per cent), BSE Focused IT(0.77 per cent), realty (0.74 per cent), capital goods (0.45 per cent) and services (0.39 per cent).
Metal jumped the most by 1.95 per cent. PSU bank (1.81 per cent), auto (1.03 per cent), commodities (0.65 per cent) and bankex (0.59 per cent) also settled higher.
The BSE Sensex has declined by 892.4 points or 1.04 per cent in the past five trading days.
“Markets traded on a subdued note on the final expiry of the calendar year and ended almost unchanged. After an initial dip, the Nifty moved within a narrow range for most of the session,” Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index settled in positive territory, while South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index ended lower.
Markets in Europe were trading marginally higher.
US markets ended lower on Monday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,759.89 crore on Monday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 2,643.85 crore, according to exchange data.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.47 per cent to USD 62.23 per barrel.
On Monday, the Sensex declined by 345.91 points or 0.41 per cent to settle at 84,695.54. The Nifty edged lower by 100.20 points or 0.38 per cent to 25,942.10. (PTI)