MUMBAI: A massive slide in tech-heavy Korean stock market on Tuesday, which followed the overnight sell-off in US tech stocks, pulled sensex down by nearly 900 points to 76,201 points. However, despite the day’s tech-led sell-off, foreign funds were net buyers, something that market players said was a positive sign.The day’s session started on a steady note with sensex barely changed from its previous close. But once Korea’s Kospi showed weakness following a warning from its securities regulator about the index’s rally in recent months, things began moving south. Kospi hit the circuit breaker and closed 10% down.
The slide in Korea followed an overnight sell-off in the US where AI-led stocks closed sharply lower. Selling on Wall Street continued on Tuesday with Nasdaq down more than 1.4% in mid-session. According to Vinod Nair of Geojit Investments, investor sentiment on Dalal Street weakened as early gains proved unsustainable amid negative global cues and prevailing caution. “Profit booking after the recent rally further intensified downside pressure, resulting in broad-based weakness across key sectors. The domestic IT sector remained under pressure, reflecting the global tech rout and persistent concerns over AI-led disruptions in the Indian IT space,” Nair said.Going forward, while stable crude prices and easing geopolitical tensions offer some support to domestic investors, they are still cautious, and are focusing on the progress of the monsoon and the ongoing US-India trade discussions, Nair said.The day’s slide left investors poorer by about Rs 5.5 lakh crore with BSE’s market capitalisation now at Rs 475.1 lakh crore, exchange data showed. Foreign investors were net buyers at a marginal Rs 18 crore while domestic investors recorded a Rs 680-crore net inflow, BSE data showed. Among the sectoral indices, BSE’s metal index closed 3% lower while the IT index was down 2.2%.
