Share markets swing between gains and losses as foreign investors pull out funds

Share markets saw choppy trade on Friday after recovering in early hours, pulled down by high crude oil prices, rising US bond yields, and selling in IT company shares. The 30-share BSE Sensex started the day 86 points higher at 73,672.98 following heavy losses in the previous session, while the NSE Nifty gained 18.80 points to reach 23,080.45. Markets soon lost those early gains as the BSE benchmark slipped 12.95 points to 73,568.22 and the Nifty dipped 16.75 points to 23,049.40. Major gainers among Sensex companies included Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, State Bank of India, HCL Tech, and Bajaj Finance. On the losing side were Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, and NTPC. Global oil benchmark Brent crude traded 0.99 percent lower at $105.5 per barrel. V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, noted that multiple negative factors spooked markets recently, pointing to high US bond yields, rising crude prices, and worries over proposals by IRDA regarding insurance commissions that previously dropped the Nifty by 383 points. Data from stock exchanges showed that Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth ₹5,027.36 crore on Thursday. On that same day, the Sensex had plunged 1,247.71 points or 1.67 percent to close at 73,580.54, while the Nifty dropped 383.70 points or 1.64 percent to end at 23,063.10. Across Asia, the Nikkei 225 index traded in the positive zone, whereas Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index moved lower, following mostly negative closes in US markets on Thursday.