Foreign Investor Exodus Weighs Down Indian Markets Amid Global Divergence

Indian stock markets faced another day of declines as foreign institutions continued heavy selling. While the Nifty and Sensex indices opened lower, optimism remains for a potential recovery. Broad market indices faced widespread selling pressure, with a few exceptions. Asian markets showed mixed performance, with regional variations.

The Indian stock markets suffered another day of sell-offs, continuing the trend of heavy selling by foreign investors this October. On Friday, the Nifty index started the day down by 0.34%, at 24,664.95 points, as the BSE Sensex fell by 257 points, or 0.32%, opening at 80,749.26.

Market experts acknowledged the persistent selling pressure from foreign institutional investors (FIIs), yet hold a positive outlook for the upcoming weeks. 'We remain optimistic as the FII selling may have crossed the halfway mark already. Once it diminishes, domestic flows can spark a recovery,' stated Ajay Bagga, a banking and market expert.

Across the broad market indices on the NSE, indices such as Nifty Next 50 and Nifty 100 followed the downward trend, with notable declines in Nifty IT, which was down by over 1.21% at opening. Meanwhile, pivotal financial results from firms like Jio Financial Services and Hindustan Zinc are anticipated today.

Contrastingly, most Asian markets opened positively, bar South Korea's KOSPI. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Taiwan's indices gained over 1.5%. In Japan, the Nikkei rose by 0.38%. Meanwhile, U.S. markets closed relatively flat, with slight movements in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices. (ANI)

(With inputs from agencies.)