Indian markets fell on Tuesday, extending its weak start to the year to a fifth consecutive session. The BSE Sensex has now shed around 500 points in five sessions. The broader Nifty ended close to its crucial support of 6,130 levels
Foreign flows are on watch after overseas investors sold Rs 396 crore worth of index futures on Monday, adding to Friday's selling of Rs 608 crore. Dealers said outstanding positions in index futures have reduced by 24,631 contracts implying foreign investors are seen unwinding some of the long positions in Nifty futures and Bank Nifty futures.
The BSE Sensex rose 8.9 per cent and hit a record high in 2013 despite slowing growth and sticky inflation on back of over $20 billion worth buying in stocks during the period.
Tirthankar Patnaik of Religare Capital Markets told NDTV that from a macro perspective, nothing much has changed. However, there are fears that emerging markets may have received a lower allocation from FIIs this year.
"We may see weaker participation from foreign investors and that's why Indian markets are not holding up," Mr Patnaik added.
Software stocks including Infosys dropped on caution ahead of its October-December earnings results on Friday. Infosys fell 1.7 per cent, while Tata Consultancy Services ended 1.5 per cent lower.
Anil Manghnani of Modern Stock Brokers told NDTV markets are overweight in IT so we might be seeing a little bit of profit taking in IT stocks.
Metal, energy, power and realty shares also came under selling pressure. Tata Steel, down 3.33 per cent, was the top Nifty loser, while Tata Power fell 2.8 per cent.
Among the gainers, car maker Maruti Suzuki rose 2.1 per cent, while private lender IndusInd Bank, which will report earnings later this week, closed 1.34 per cent higher.
The Sensex provisionally fell 0.47 percent and the Nifty ended 0.5 percent lower, marking their lowest close in nearly three weeks.
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