[인도증시] Close down… “It will be the worst month since the COVID-19 pandemic.”

[방콕=뉴스핌] Correspondent Hong Woori = On the 25th, the Indian stock market fell. The Sensex 30 index, the benchmark index of the Mumbai Stock Exchange (BSE), closed at 79,402.29 points, down 0.83%, and the Nifty 50 index of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) closed at 24,180.80 points, down 0.90%.

Reuters assessed that the Sensex 30 and Nifty 50 indices fell for five consecutive trading days this week (October 21-25), marking their worst week in 14 months.

It is the fourth consecutive week of losses in terms of weekly performance, and Reuters added that it will be the worst month since March 2020, when the entire India was locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Experts analyze that amid growing concerns about the overvaluation of Indian stocks, the poor performance of listed companies has lowered market confidence and further strengthened foreign selling.

The Indian benchmark index hit an all-time high on September 27 and entered the buying overheating zone, and around the same time, as the Chinese government announced a large-scale economic stimulus package, the outflow of foreign funds from the Indian stock market began in earnest.

Mint, an Indian financial media outlet, pointed out that aggressive selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) was the main cause of the market collapse. According to data cited by the media, FPIs sold more than 980 billion rupees (about 11.7 billion dollars, 16.21 trillion won) worth of Indian stocks as of the 24th, the previous trading day this month.

“Such selling by FPIs is unprecedented,” said Vikay Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Poor performance in the second quarter (July to September 2024) of the 2024/25 fiscal year (April 2024 to March 2025) led to growing concerns that the market was overvalued.

“The disappointing second quarter performance shows that not only rural but also urban consumption is weak,” Vijayakumar said, noting that profitability could slow down for the entire fiscal year.

Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart, said, “The main reason why the Indian stock market is undergoing a sharp correction is foreign selling,” adding, “Another reason is the poor performance of Indian companies, especially consumer-related companies and financial companies.”

On this day, IndusInd Bank fell nearly 19%. The reported decline in quarterly profit due to non-performing microfinance loans became bad news.

On the other hand, ITC, which operates businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and tobacco, rose 2.2%. Although the second quarter performance fell short of expectations, it was driven by optimism that strong sales and quantitative growth would be a positive factor for future profits.

hongwoori84@newspim.com