MARKETS SLIDE: Sensex drops 501 points, Nifty slips below 25K on Bank Selloff, FII Exit

Mumbai, Jul 18: Benchmark Sensex tanked 501 points while Nifty closed below the 25,000 mark on Friday due to selling in banking shares after muted quarterly earnings and foreign fund outflows.

Falling for the second straight day, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 501.51 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 81,757.73. During the day, it shed 651.11 points or 0.79 per cent to hit a low of 81,608.13.

The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 143.05 points or 0.57 per cent to close at a month's low of 24,968.40.

Analysts said investors turned cautious over banking stocks in response to Axis Bank's latest financial results, which fell short of market expectations.

Among Sensex firms, Axis Bank tumbled the most by 5.24 per cent after it reported a 3 per cent dip in its June quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 6,243.72 crore, impacted by the implementation of changes in non-performing assets and loan upgrade policy.

Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said Axis Bank's latest financial results fell short of market expectations.

"Notably, Axis Bank's GDR tumbled 4.8 per cent to USD 64.30 on Thursday, following a deterioration in the bank's asset quality during the June quarter," he said.

Among blue-chip bank stocks, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India ended lower.

Following the decline in bank stocks, the BSE Bankex ended 1.33 per cent lower at 62,741.65.

Bharat Electronics, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Eternal were also among the laggards from the Sensex pack.

However, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech and Infosys were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,694.31 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

"A broad-based sell-off was observed amidst a disappointing initial set of earnings from the finance and IT sectors. Elevated valuations in large-cap stocks, coupled with significant net short positions held by FIIs, have contributed to a cautious sentiment among investors," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

"Additional tariff threats are also casting a shadow on India over its trade relationship with Russia. Despite these pressures, the medium-to-long-term outlook for India remains optimistic, supported by low inflation levels and proactive monetary authority committed to sustaining economic growth," Nair added.

The BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.64 per cent and midcap index dipped 0.62 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, capital goods dropped 1.50 per cent, followed by bankex (1.33 per cent), industrials (1.08 per cent), telecommunication (0.99 per cent), power (0.90 per cent) and consumer durables (0.90 per cent).

Metal, services and BSE Focused IT ended higher.

On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark tumbled 742.74 points or 0.90 per cent, and the Nifty declined by 181.45 points or 0.72 per cent.