Markets decline in early trade amid foreign fund outflows

New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices fell in early trade on Monday, extending their previous day's decline, amid fresh foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 97.18 points to 65,697.55 after a muted beginning. The Nifty slipped 15.3 points to 19,716.50.

Among the Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance and UltraTech Cement were the major laggards.

HCL Technologies, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, State Bank of India and Power Grid were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green while Tokyo quoted lower.

The US markets ended with marginal gains on Friday.

"The ongoing rally in the mother market US triggered by declining bond yields makes the market construct slightly favourable for the continuation of the rally in India, too. Like in cricket, there will be occasional set backs, but it is the long-term trend that matters in the market," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.69 percent to USD 81.17 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 477.76 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark declined 187.75 points or 0.28 percent to settle at 65,794.73 on Friday. The Nifty slipped 33.40 points or 0.17 percent to 19,731.80.

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