Stock markets decline in early trade amid relentless foreign fund outflows

Market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Tuesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and fresh US tariffs that ignited trade war fears.

Declining for the fifth day running, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex dropped 201.06 points to 77,110.74 in initial trade. The NSE Nifty declined 79.55 points to 23,302.05.

From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Power Grid, Zomato, Tata Motors, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tata Steel were the biggest laggards.

Infosys, HCL Tech, Maruti and ITC were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,463.72 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower while Seoul traded higher. US markets ended in the positive territory on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.26 per cent to USD 76.07 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark dropped 548.39 points or 0.70 per cent to settle at a week's low of 77,311.80 on Monday. The Nifty declined 178.35 points or 0.76 per cent to 23,381.60.