Markets decline in early trade dragged by IT stocks, weak Asian trends

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Friday amid emergence of profit-taking after a sharp rally in the previous trading session.

Mumbai: Equity Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Monday dragged lower by IT stocks and a weak trend in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE benchmark gauge Sensex declined 214.59 points to 82,116 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dipped 54 points to 24,965.80.

From the Sensex firms, Infosys, Eternal, Tata Consultancy Services, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the laggards.

NTPC, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and Hindustan Unilever were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were trading lower.

US markets ended in the positive territory on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.37 per cent to $65.17 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 8,831.05 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

"An apparently perplexing trend from the last trading day is that the market declined despite Rs 14,018 crore of institutional buying ( FIIs plus DIIs). This indicates that FIIs are increasing their short positions in the derivatives market. So expect more volatility ahead," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

On Friday, the Sensex declined 200.15 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 82,330.59. The Nifty dropped 42.30 points or 0.17 per cent to 25,019.80.