Markets decline in early trade after record rally

New Delhi: Benchmark equity indices declined in early trade on Friday amid profit-taking after a record rally in the last few trading sessions and selling in blue-chips HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

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The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 504.27 points to 79,545.40. The NSE Nifty slipped 105.30 points to 24,196.85.

Among the 30 Sensex companies, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Power Grid, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major laggards.

Sun Pharmaceuticals, JSW Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, Infosys and Tech Mahindra were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Thursday, as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,575.85 crore, according to exchange data.

"FIIs' huge long position in the index derivatives and strong buying in the cash market can support the market in the near term. An important trigger may come from the US jobs data expected on Friday.

"If the jobs data show a loosening labour market and a slowing economy, it can lead to rate cuts by the Fed in September," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

In Asian markets, Seoul quoted higher, while Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong traded lower.

"Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region traded lower due to the absence of cues from US peers, with investors keenly awaiting the non-farm payroll data to be published later on Friday," Avdhut Bagkar, Technical and Derivatives Analyst at StoxBox, said.

US markets were closed on Thursday on the occasion of Independence Day.

On Thursday, the 30-share BSE Sensex scaled an intraday record high of 80,392.64 in early trade. Later, the Sensex closed 62.87 points or 0.08 percent higher at 80,049.67, its all-time closing high.

The broader Nifty also hit an intra-day record high of 24,401 in early trade before closing almost flat. The 50-issue index rose by 15.65 points or 0.06 percent to settle at a record 24,302.15.

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