Stock markets decline in early trade on selling in IT shares, sluggish Asian peers

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Friday, dragged by IT shares and sluggish trends in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 219 points to 81,414.02 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dipped 53.6 points to 24,780.

Investors turned cautious ahead of the release of domestic GDP data, analysts said.

From the Sensex firms, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services were among the laggards.

Larsen & Toubro, Adani Ports, Eternal, Nestle, Sun Pharma and Maruti 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 in the negative territory.

US markets ended higher on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 884.03 crore on Thursday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 4,286.50 crore, according to exchange data.

"Stable institutional flows- both FII and DII - are keeping the market steady even in the absence of positive triggers. The ongoing consolidation phase is likely to continue in the near-term. Investors should understand two distinct big trends that will weigh on markets: One, India’s macros are strong and improving. Two, this positive trend in macros is not getting reflected in corporate earnings. This is the fundamental reason for the range bound movement of the market," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.48 per cent to USD 63.84 a barrel.

The BSE Sensex climbed 320.70 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 81,633.02 on Thursday. The 50-share Nifty went up by 81.15 points or 0.33 per cent to 24,833.60.