Mumbai: The Sensex and Nifty, which are key stock market indices, saw a decrease in early trading on Wednesday, following a drop on Budget day, due to the government's plan to increase the securities transaction tax on futures and options.
Foreign fund outflows and a bearish trend in international markets also negatively impacted the local markets. Following a slow start, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped an additional 233.7 points to reach 80,195.34. The NSE Nifty fell by 73.45 points to 24,405.60.
Hindustan Unilever, from the Sensex pack, saw a 3 pc drop as the company's consolidated net profit only rose by 2.2 pc to Rs 2,612 crore for April-June FY25 due to price cuts. Bajaj Finance, Nestle, HCL Technologies, UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Adani Ports were among the major underperformers.
Nevertheless, ITC, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, and NTPC experienced gains. The primary stock market indicators closed slightly down in a fluctuating session on Tuesday due to the government's plan to increase the securities transaction tax on futures & options in the 2024-25 Budget. Tuesday saw a 0.09 pc decrease as the BSE benchmark closed at 80,429.04, down by 73.04 points. The Nifty fell by 30.20 points, a decrease of 0.12 pc to 24,479.05.
With the recent rise in STCGs and slight increase in LTCGs on equities, investors should concentrate on investing in stocks that have the potential to provide higher returns. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, stated that currently FMCG stocks appear appealing in terms of valuation. Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong were experiencing declines in Asian markets, with Shanghai being the exception with higher trading prices.
On Tuesday, the US markets closed slightly down. According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 2,975.31 crore on Tuesday. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, saw an increase of 0.38 per cent to reach USD 81.32 per barrel in trading.
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