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Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Thursday after a two-day rally as investors turned cautious ahead of the Union Budget presentation on Sunday.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 343.67 points to 82,001.01 during initial trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty edged lower by 94.2 points to 25,248.55.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Maruti declined nearly 3 per cent after its December quarter earnings failed to cheer investors.]
Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday posted 4 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,879 crore for the December quarter FY26, hit by one-time provision of Rs 594 crore on account of the new Labour Codes.
Asian Paints, Titan, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever and Mahindra & Mahindra were also among the laggards.
However, Larsen & Toubro climbed over 3 per cent after its consolidated revenue from operations in the October-December quarter rose by 10 per cent to Rs 71,450 crore, over Rs 64,668 crore in the year-ago period.
Tata Steel, NTPC, Power Grid and State Bank of India were also among the gainers.
"With the Union Budget due on Sunday, markets are bracing for volatility but downside appears limited; all eyes are on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for pro-growth cues," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
Foreign institutional investors turned buyers on Wednesday after days of offloading stocks, according to exchange data. They bought stocks worth Rs 480.26 crore. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) also bought equities worth Rs 3,360.59 crore.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index traded higher, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai's SSE Composite index quoted lower.
US markets ended flat on Wednesday.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 1.08 per cent to USD 69.14 per barrel.
On Wednesday, the Sensex jumped 487.20 points or 0.60 per cent to settle at 82,344.68. The Nifty surged 167.35 points or 0.66 per cent to end at 25,342.75.