<p>Mumbai: 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.</p><p>Markets were dragged lower due to selling in IT stocks and a largely weak trend in Asian markets.</p><p>After a weak start to the day, the 30-share BSE benchmark gauge Sensex further declined 252.97 points to 82,277.77 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dropped 67.6 points to 24,994.50.</p><p>From the Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Infosys, Power Grid, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major laggards.</p><p>Eternal, NTPC, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were among the gainers.</p><p>In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were trading lower while South Korea's Kospi quoted in the positive territory.</p><p>US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.</p><p>Global oil benchmark Brent crude traded 0.08 per cent up at USD 64.58 a barrel.</p><p>Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 5,392.94 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.</p><p>Rallying for the second day on Thursday, the BSE Sensex jumped 1,200.18 points or 1.48 per cent to settle at a seven-month high of 82,530.74. The Nifty surged 395.20 points or 1.60 per cent to reach a seven-month peak of 25,062.10. </p>
<p>Mumbai: 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.</p><p>Markets were dragged lower due to selling in IT stocks and a largely weak trend in Asian markets.</p><p>After a weak start to the day, the 30-share BSE benchmark gauge Sensex further declined 252.97 points to 82,277.77 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dropped 67.6 points to 24,994.50.</p><p>From the Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Infosys, Power Grid, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major laggards.</p><p>Eternal, NTPC, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were among the gainers.</p><p>In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were trading lower while South Korea's Kospi quoted in the positive territory.</p><p>US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.</p><p>Global oil benchmark Brent crude traded 0.08 per cent up at USD 64.58 a barrel.</p><p>Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 5,392.94 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.</p><p>Rallying for the second day on Thursday, the BSE Sensex jumped 1,200.18 points or 1.48 per cent to settle at a seven-month high of 82,530.74. The Nifty surged 395.20 points or 1.60 per cent to reach a seven-month peak of 25,062.10. </p>