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

New Delhi: 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.

PSU Watch is now on Whatsapp Channels. Click here to join

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 percent to USD 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 percent to settle at 82,330.59. The Nifty dropped 42.30 points or 0.17 percent to 25,019.80.

(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)