Mumbai

The equity markets ended lower on Tuesday as persistent foreign investor outflows, elevated crude oil prices and high US Treasury yields kept investors cautious. The pressure has also been intensified by the rapid pace of IPO fundraising, which is absorbing liquidity from the market.

The Nifty 50 closed at 22,716.20, down 64.05 points or 0.28 per cent, while the BSE Sensex ended at 72,529.07, declining 242.65 points or 0.33 per cent.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments, said domestic equities continued to face correction-led pressure amid volatile crude prices, high US Treasury yields and persistent foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows.

“Domestic equities continue to face correction-led headwinds amid volatile crude prices, U.S. Treasury yields hovering near two-decade highs, and persistent FII outflows exerting pressure on the rupee,” Nair said.

He added that the unprecedented pace of IPO fundraising was also absorbing incremental liquidity, while investor risk appetite remained subdued against a hawkish global backdrop and rising expectations of additional rate hikes later in the year.

Among sectoral indices on the NSE, Nifty IT was the biggest laggard, falling 1.56 per cent, while Nifty Consumer Durables declined 2.14 per cent. Nifty Realty fell 1.25 per cent, Nifty Auto declined 0.83 per cent, and Nifty FMCG lost 0.88 per cent.

Nifty Private Bank fell 0.13 per cent, while Nifty Oil and Gas declined 0.49 per cent. On the other hand, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Metal and Nifty Media ended higher.

Brent crude oil prices declined marginally by 0.47 per cent to USD 105 per barrel at the time of reporting. Despite the decline, crude remained elevated compared with its longer-term levels, keeping concerns over inflation and corporate costs in focus.

Riyank Arora, Associate Vice President – HNI & Derivatives at Hedged.in, said, today's dip looks like routine profit booking rather than a change in trend, provided the key supports hold. “The larger picture still favours the bulls. A buy-on-dips approach in quality names, backed by disciplined risk management, remains the sensible way to play this”.

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In other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.43 per cent to 64,950, Singapore's Straits Times declined 0.25 per cent to 5,714, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.73 per cent to 24,465, Taiwan's weighted index declined 0.82 per cent to 47,631, while South Korea's KOSPI lost 0.28 per cent to 6,870.