Markets tumble in early trade after two days of rally dragged by IT stocks

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Tuesday, after two days of rally, dragged lower by IT stocks and weak Asian market trends.

The 30-share BSE benchmark gauge Sensex dropped 460.38 points to 81,716.07 in early trade. The NSE Nifty declined 162.05 points to 24,839.10.

Later, the BSE benchmark traded 627.86 points lower at 81,548.59, and the Nifty quoted 178 points down at 24,807.95.

Investors turned cautious ahead of the release of industrial and manufacturing production data for April on Wednesday and the first quarter GDP numbers, scheduled to be announced later this week, experts said.

From the Sensex firms, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech, Eternal, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank and Tata Motors were among the laggards.

IndusInd Bank emerged as the only gainer.

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 in the negative territory.

US markets were shut on Monday for Memorial Day.

"In the near-term the market is likely to consolidate around the current levels," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 135.98 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.26 per cent to USD 64.57 a barrel.

The BSE Sensex jumped 455.37 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 82,176.45 on Monday. The Nifty climbed 148 points or 0.60 per cent to 25,001.15.