Markets fall in early trade amid weak Asian equities

Mumbai, November 21

Market benchmarks fell in early trade on Monday amid weak trend in other Asian equities.

After a weak beginning, the 30-share BSE Sensex further declined 463.1 points to 61,200.38. The broader NSE Nifty dipped 129.25 points to 18,178.40.

From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, HDFC, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Nestle were the major laggards.

Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Maruti, Hindustan Unilever and Tata Steel were the winners.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.

Wall Street had ended higher on Friday.

The BSE benchmark declined 87.12 points or 0.14 per cent to settle at 61,663.48 on Friday. The Nifty dipped 36.25 points or 0.20 per cent to end at 18,307.65.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.22 per cent lower at USD 86.55 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded shares worth Rs 751.2 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.