Markets decline in early trade on weak global trends, foreign fund outflows

Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on Monday amid a weak trend in global markets and continuous foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 136.61 points to 65,872.54. The Nifty dipped 39.7 points to 19,634.55.

Among the Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, ITC, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever and IndusInd Bank were the major laggards.

Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti and Asian Paints were the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were quoting in the negative territory while Tokyo traded in the green.

The US markets ended lower on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.21 per cent to USD 93.47 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,326.74 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have pulled out over Rs 10,000 crore from Indian equities in the first three weeks of September.

'Sustained FII selling has been a drag on the market in recent days,' said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The BSE benchmark had declined 221.09 points or 0.33 per cent to settle at 66,009.15 on Friday. The Nifty fell 68.10 points or 0.34 per cent to end at 19,674.25.