Sensex Falls 243 Points In Early Trade, Dragged Down By IT, Banking Stocks

Equity benchmarks declined in initial trade on Tuesday, dragged down by IT and banking stocks amid a mixed trend in global markets. Unabated foreign fund outflows also negatively impacted the domestic equity market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 243 points to 60,504.30 points. The broader NSE Nifty fell 61.75 points to 18,039.45 points.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HDFC, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Maruti, State Bank of India, Tech Mahindra, ITC, and ICICI Bank were the major laggards.

India's largest IT services company TCS quoted over 2 per cent lower in early trade even after reporting an 11 per cent rise in December quarter net profit to Rs 10,846 crore.

Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, Titan, and Larsen & Toubro were among the winners from the 30-share pack.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul and Tokyo were trading in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower.

Markets in the US ended on a mixed note on Monday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.44 per cent to $79.32 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 203.13 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Sensex had zoomed 846.94 points or 1.41 per cent to settle at 60,747.31 points on Monday. Nifty had climbed 241.75 points or 1.35 per cent to end at 18,101.20 points.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)