Sensex falls 495 points to 2-month low on foreign fund outflows

Mumbai: Falling for the third straight day, benchmark Sensex lost nearly 495 points on Thursday to close at a nearly two-month low due to selling in select banking, auto and realty shares and foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share Sensex tanked 494.75 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 81,006.61, the lowest closing level since August 21, 2024. During the day, the barometer tumbled 595.72 points or 0.73 per cent to 80,905.64.

As many as 21 Sensex stocks closed in red and nine with gains.

The broader 50-issue Nifty slumped 221.45 points or 0.89 per cent to settle at 24,749.85 as 41 of its constituents declined.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms tanked Rs 6,03,862.06 crore to Rs 4,57,25,183.01 crore ($5.44 trillion).

Analysts said intense selling in realty, auto, consumer discretionary and consumer durable stocks dragged the markets down.

Among Sensex firms, Nestle declined the most by over 3 per cent after the FMCG major reported a drop in its net profit to Rs 899.49 crore for the second quarter that ended September 2024, as some of its key brands faced softer consumer demand and high commodity prices.

Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Maruti, Axis Bank and Tata Steel were among the other big laggards.

However, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India were among the biggest gainers.

The BSE midcap gauge declined 1.65 per cent and smallcap index fell 1.42 per cent.

Among the indices, realty tumbled 3.76 per cent, auto (3.48 per cent), consumer discretionary (2.45 per cent), consumer durables (2.28 per cent), commodities (1.77 per cent), oil & gas (1.54 per cent) and power (1.48 per cent). BSE IT and tech emerged as the only gainers.

A total of 2,690 stocks declined while 1,272 advanced and 102 remained unchanged on the BSE.