Stock markets decline in early trade after sharp rally in previous session

New Delhi: 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.

Markets were dragged lower due to selling in IT stocks and a largely weak trend in Asian markets.

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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.

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.

Eternal, NTPC, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were among the gainers.

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.

US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude traded 0.08 percent up at USD 64.58 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 5,392.94 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Rallying for the second day on Thursday, the BSE Sensex jumped 1,200.18 points or 1.48 percent to settle at a seven-month high of 82,530.74. The Nifty surged 395.20 points or 1.60 percent to reach a seven-month peak of 25,062.10.

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