Indian benchmarks log worst session in three weeks; small-, mid-caps underperform

Indian shares posted their biggest single-day drop in about three weeks on Tuesday, weighed down by slowing corporate earnings and sustained foreign selling.

The NSE Nifty 50 fell 1.25% to 24,472.1, while the BSE Sensex shed 1.15% to 80,220.72.

Both the benchmarks gained about 0.4% each in the first hour of trade before reversing gains, logging their worst session since Oct. 3.

All the 13 major sectoral indexes declined. Forty-seven of the Nifty 50 stocks logged losses.

The broader, more domestically-focussed small-caps mid-caps fell about 4% and 2.6%, respectively, underperforming the benchmarks and clocking their worst session since Aug. 5.

“Amid moderating earnings and foreign selling, the underperformance of the broader market is the real pain point of the market and as long as this trend continues, any intraday bounce will be short-lived,” said Aditya Gaggar, a director at Progressive Shares.

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Among individual stocks, Hyundai Motor India debuted on the stock exchange at a discount of 1.3% over its issue price of 1,960 rupees. The stock closed its debut session 7.2% lower.

City Union Bank gained 12% after posting rise in quarterly profit, while the Jana Small Finance Bank shed 10.4% after reporting a drop in net profit and a sequential deterioration in asset quality in the September quarter.

Non-bank lender L&T Finance lost 7.1% in its worst session since early March as analysts flagged potential disruption to earnings growth due to headwinds in the microfinance segment.

Domestic equities have seen a spate of profit-taking since hitting record highs on Sept. 27, with the Nifty shedding about 7% from all-time high levels.

“The trigger for the correction has come from the sustained selling by foreign investors,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers for 16 sessions till Monday.

A sustained recovery appears difficult since market sentiment remains negative and earnings have been lacklustre, according to two analysts.