SENSEX, NIFTY tumble nearly 1% on unabated foreign fund outflows; TCS earnings in spotlight

Equity benchmark indices SENSEX and NIFTY tumbled nearly 1% on Thursday due to heavy selling in market heavyweights HDFC Bank, TCS and Reliance as investors turned nervous over earnings growth concerns amid unabated foreign capital outflows.

Besides, abysmally low Chinese inflation data, an indication of poor demand, and a sell-off in US bonds added to the pressure, traders said.

TCS is kick-starting the December quarter results calendar on Thursday.

Falling for the second straight day, the 30-share benchmark dropped 528.28 points or 0.68% to sink below the 78,000 level at 77,620.21. During the day, it tanked 605.57 points or 0.77% to 77,542.92.

The NIFTY50 slumped 162.45 points or 0.69% to 23,526.50.

From the 30-share SENSEX blue-chip pack, Tata Steel, Zomato, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank and NTPC were the major laggards.

Nestle, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers.

Meanwhile, India's largest IT services company TCS reported an 11.95% jump in net profit to ₹12,380 crore for the December quarter. The financial results were announced after market hours.

The BSE smallcap gauge tanked 1.17% while the midcap index declined 0.96%.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty slumped 2.90 per cent, oil & gas (2.19%), energy (1.83%), power (1.68%), capital goods (1.54%) and BSE Focused IT (1.14%).

FMCG emerged as the only gainer.

The Chinese consumer price index rose 0.1% year-on-yer in December, while wholesale prices declined 2.3%, indicating that demand remains subdued in the world's second-largest economy.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,362.18 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Seoul settled in positive territory, while Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

European markets were trading on a mixed note. US markets ended mostly in the green on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.11% to $76.05 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark declined 50.62 points or 0.06% to settle at 78,148.49 on Wednesday. The Nifty skidded 18.95 points or 0.08% to 23,688.95.