Markets decline in early trade on weak global peers, foreign fund outflows

Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on Monday in tandem with a weak trend in global markets and foreign fund outflowsThe 30share BSE Sensex dropped 28174 points to 8090219 The NSE Nifty declined 8145 points to 2477070Among the 30 Sensex firms Adani Ports Tata Steel NTPC Power Grid Mahindra amp Mahindra and Tata Motors were the biggest laggardsHindustan Unilever Asian Paints Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services were among the gainersIn Asian markets Seoul Tokyo Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lowerThe US markets ended significantly lower on FridayThe stock markets have taken a sharp bearish turn with sentiment shifting from optimism about cooling US inflation to concerns over a potential US economic slowdown Fridays weakerthanexpected jobs data has reignited fears of a recession further compounded by soft manufacturing updates Prashanth Tapse Senior VP Research Mehta Equities Ltd said while speaking on the stock market update reported PTIForeign Institutional Investors FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 62095 crore on Friday according to exchange dataTwo factors are likely to weigh on markets one the outcome of the US presidential elections and two the Fed decision on rate cut V K Vijayakumar Chief Investment Strategist Geojit Financial Services said while speaking on the stock market update reported PTIGlobal oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 124 per cent to USD 7194 a barrelThe BSE benchmark had tumbled 101723 points or 124 per cent to settle at 8118393 on Friday The NSE Nifty dropped 29295 points or 117 per cent to 2485215Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early tradeThe rupee traded in a narrow range on Monday and appreciated 1 paisa to 8394 against the American currency amid a muted trend in domestic equitiesForex traders said easing crude oil prices and overall weakness in the dollar index supported the rupee but the Reserve Banks active intervention kept the rupee in a tight rangeAt the interbank foreign exchange market the local unit moved in a narrow range It opened at 8396 against the American currency and touched 8385 in initial trade It was later trading at 8395 against the greenback unchanged from its previous closeOn Friday the rupee gained 2 paise to close at 8395 against the US dollarThe Indian rupee is expected to be range bound with the market awaiting to see when the Reserve Bank of India RBI would allow a move above 8400With inputs from PTI