Indian stock indices continue to slide on weak fundamentals

NEW DELHI: The benchmark stock indices extended their losses from the past week in line with weak fundamentals in US markets, which saw its sharpest weekly decline of 2023. At 9.42 am, Sensex and Nifty traded in a range of 0.4-0.5 lower from their Friday close.

After suffering significant losses on Friday, Wall Street's major indices had their largest weekly decline of 2023 as investors prepared for the likelihood of more aggressive interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve, said Om Mehra, Equity Research Analyst at Choice Broking.

"Foreign investors continued their bearish trends on Indian equities and hence pulled out Rs 2,313 crore from Indian equities so far this month. However, the pace of selling has come down compared to January, when Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) took out Rs 28,852 crore," Mehta said, adding that he expects the market to be volatile and advised traders to approach 'sell on rise' strategy.

At the latest monetary policy meeting in the US, a few participants, according to the minutes of the US Federal Reserve, favoured raising the target range for the federal funds rate 50 basis points, noting that a larger increase would more quickly help in achieving price stability.

Meanwhile, consumer inflation in the US moderated to 6.4 per cent in January from 6.5 per cent in December, and 7.1 per cent the previous month but still is way above the 2 per cent target.

Raising interest rates is a monetary policy instrument that typically helps suppress demand in the economy, thereby enabling the inflation rate decline.

According to VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the Indian economy continues to be strong and investors can use weakness in the market to accumulate high-quality stocks in banking, capital goods, IT, cement, and across sectors.