Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices experienced a decline in early trade on Tuesday, driven by profit-taking after a record-breaking rally and selling in blue-chip stocks such as Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank.
On Monday, both the Sensex and Nifty had reached their all-time high levels during early trading.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 113.63 points, settling at 76,376.45, while the NSE Nifty fell by 29.6 points to 23,229.60.
Subsequently, both indices exhibited significant volatility, trading between highs and lows.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, major laggards included JSW Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, and IndusInd Bank.
Conversely, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, and Titan were among the gainers.
In the Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo traded higher, while Shanghai and Hong Kong saw declines.
US markets concluded on a positive note on Monday.
Signaling continuity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi retained Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, and S Jaishankar in charge of the four high-profile ministries—Home, Defence, Finance, and External Affairs—in his new government.
These ministers comprise the crucial Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by the prime minister.
“The BJP keeping the key portfolios signals continuity in policies, which is a positive from the market perspective,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The global oil benchmark Brent crude declined by 0.23 percent, settling at USD 81.44 a barrel.
According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 2,572.38 crore on Monday.
