Domestic equities ended the week marginally lower, extending their range-bound movement through August despite foreign investors buying more than ₹30,000 crore of equities during the month. The Sensex fell 0.36% during the week to close at 77,264.51, while the Nifty 50 declined 0.31% to settle at 24,175.65.
On Friday, however, strong gains in technology stocks helped the indices snap a two-session losing streak, even as heavy domestic profit booking and a large pipeline of primary issuances stalled the secondary market’s momentum throughout the week, experts said.
“This stalemate is being largely driven by large-scale domestic profit-booking offsetting foreign inflows,” said Mayank Jain, market analyst at Share.Market by PhonePe. “Additionally, elevated US Treasury yields, a strong US dollar, and volatile crude oil prices continue to keep institutional buyers cautious.”
The market is also dealing with substantial equity supply through promoter stake sales, private equity exits, initial public offerings (IPOs) and qualified institutional placements (QIPs), said Piyush Mehta, smallcase manager and chief investment officer at Caprize Investment. More than ₹80,000 crore was raised through such fundraisings in August, he added. “That means the FPI flow is absorbing supply rather than necessarily pushing secondary-market prices higher,” Mehta said.
Metal strength
The cautious movement of the headline indices, however, masked pockets of strong sectoral buying. Metal stocks continued to outperform on expectations of a stronger global commodity demand cycle, rising nearly 3% and emerging as the top gainer of the week.
Jain of Share.Market said the rally was increasingly being driven by structural demand from green energy, electric vehicles, power-grid upgrades and AI data centres, all of which require large quantities of metals such as copper and aluminium.
IT stocks emerged as the week’s second-best performers, boosted by Friday’s global tech rally after Nvidia’s strong earnings and guidance, alongside upbeat commentary from US software companies such as Salesforce and CrowdStrike.
Fast-moving consumer goods and automobiles were amongst the top losers as rising input costs raised concerns of margin pressure in those sectors.
Global divergence
Globally, India’s position remained lacklustre as investors poured into Brazil, Taiwan and Vietnam, while South Korea witnessed aggressive selling.
Vietnam benefited from its FTSE Russell emerging-market upgrade and Taiwan attracted defensive flows into its AI hardware supply chain, while Brazil drew capital on the back of its high interest rates, said Mehta of Caprize Investment. In contrast, funds reduced exposure to South Korea amid concerns over stretched technology valuations and concentrated leveraged positions in memory-chip stocks.
“The flows between Taiwan and Korea show that investors still want AI-infrastructure exposure but are becoming increasingly selective within the semiconductor complex,” Mehta said. “They are rotating towards markets where valuations and dollar dynamics offer a better entry point.”
GDP watch
Analysts expect Indian equities to trade in a broad range amid lacklustre sentiment, mixed global cues and persistent geopolitical tensions, with macro data and geopolitical developments likely to guide market direction next week.
Investors will now turn their attention to India's June-quarter GDP data, due on 31 August. Brent crude has also cooled to around $88 per barrel, falling about 8% over the past nine days, which could provide some relief to domestic macro conditions, experts noted.
A Mint poll of 21 economists pegged India’s GDP growth at 7.4% for Q1, a four-quarter low, as the West Asia war disrupted economic activity and a higher deflator weighed on real growth. Share.Market’s Jain said markets will watch private consumption and investment trends, with growth above 7.5% potentially triggering an upward breakout. A sharp miss, however, could raise concerns over domestic demand and keep markets consolidated.