Sensex, Nifty tumble in early trade amid foreign fund outflows; slowdown in corporate earnings

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Monday (February 17, 2025) as persistent foreign fund outflows from the Indian equity markets and slowdown in corporate earnings continued to hurt investors’ sentiment.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex dropped 297.8 points to 75,641.41 in opening trade. The NSE Nifty declined 119.35 points to 22,809.90.

Later, both the benchmark indices fell further. The BSE bellwether gauge traded 476.70 points lower at 75,470.18, while the Nifty quoted 146.80 points down at 22,782.45.

From the Sensex, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and ICICI Bank were the biggest laggards.

Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, Tata Motors and IndusInd Bank were among the gainers.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth ₹4,294.69 crore on Friday (February 14, 2025), according to exchange data.

The total outflow by FPIs has reached ₹99,299 crore — near ₹1 lakh crore — in 2025 so far, data with the depositories showed. FPIs pulled out ₹21,272 crore in the first two weeks of this month, driven by global tensions after the U.S. imposed tariffs on imports. This came following a net outflow of ₹78,027 crore in January.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory.

U.S. markets ended mostly lower on Friday (February 14, 2025).

“The Indian stock market is underperforming this year with the Nifty delivering negative 3.4% returns vis-a-vis 4.19% returns in S&P 500 and 11.7% returns in Europe,” V. K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

“The basic reason for this underperformance is the sharp slowdown in corporate earnings this year. Q3 results indicate only around 7% earnings growth. The fact is that a modest single-digit earnings growth doesn’t deserve high valuations. This is the basic reason behind the relentless FII selling which has impacted the market. Appreciating dollars aggravated the problem,” he added.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude traded 0.05% higher at $74.78 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark dropped 199.76 points or 0.26% to settle at 75,939.21 on Friday (February 14, 2025). The Nifty declined 102.15 points or 0.44% to 22,929.25.

In the last eight trading days, the BSE benchmark tanked 2,644.6 points or 3.36%, and the Nifty slumped 810 points or 3.41%.