Indian stocks fall as foreign outflows persist, oil weighs

Indian shares ended lower in a volatile session on Monday, weighed down by continued foreign investor selling and higher oil prices, which offset healthy earnings from HDFC Bank.

The Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) closed 0.34% lower at 17,894.85, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) fell 0.28% to 60,092.97. Both benchmarks had risen more than 0.5% earlier in the session.

Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with heavyweight financials (.NIFTYFIN) falling 0.75% and metals (.NIFTYMET) losing 1.32%, reported Reuters.

The reversal in the broader market almost mirrored the downturn in financials, which surrendered intraday gains, as did HDFC Bank (HDBK.NS) despite a better-than-expected quarterly report. The stock of the country’s largest private lender closed nearly 1% lower.

The broader weakness was due to foreign selling in Indian equities given their high valuations relative to markets such as China and Taiwan, where allocations were lowered earlier due to COVID curbs, three analysts said.