Stocks decline for second straight session, rally seems to fade

NEW DELHI: Indian stocks seemed to have lost some steam as they declined for the second consecutive session on Monday primarily due to mild profit booking.

The latest slump in stocks comes after a five-week long consistent rally in the benchmark indices - Sensex and Nifty. At 9.26 a.m., Sensex traded at 59,230.99 points, down 415.16 points or 0.70 per cent, whereas Nifty traded at 17,632.80 points, down 125.65 points or 0.71 per cent.

Among the Nifty 50 stocks, 43 of them declined this morning, while the remaining 7 managed to trade in the green, National Stock Exchange data showed.

"Investors have to exercise caution. Medium to long-term investors can buy high-quality banks on declines. Capital goods and autos are on a strong wicket," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Major Asian shares too declined on Monday amid concerns over global growth as most major banks keep raising lending rates, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC securities.

Until Thursday, Indian stocks extended their bull run for the fifth straight week supported by fresh inflows of foreign investments as well as some moderation in inflation -- both in the US and India.

Also, the latest softening of international crude oil prices infused buying sentiments among investors.

The total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies this week touched an all-time high.

Besides, the benchmark index Sensex touched the psychologically crucial 60,000 mark on Wednesday after more than four months to later fall due to profit booking.

During the past five weeks, benchmark indices - Sensex and Nifty - rose nearly 10 per cent on a cumulative basis, thereby recovering largely the entire losses they witnessed so far in 2022.

The latest rally in stocks made Indian investors richer by around Rs 25 trillion.

For the record, till early July, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were consistently selling equities in the Indian markets for the past nine-to-ten months due to various reasons, including tightening of monetary policy in advanced economies, and rising demand for the dollar and high returns from US bonds.

They have pulled out Rs 167,888 crore worth of equities so far in 2022, NSDL data showed.

In July, they were, however, the net buyer with a total purchase of equities worth Rs 4,989 crore.

So far in August, they bought equities worth another Rs 44,481 crore, data showed.