Markets fall in early trade on weak global trends, foreign fund outflows

Mumbai, Dec 21: Benchmark equity indices continued to fall for the second day running on Thursday amid weak trends in global markets and continuous foreign fund outflows.
Investors also went for profit-taking after the recent record-breaking rally in the markets.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 585.92 points to 69,920.39. The Nifty declined 173.35 points to 20,976.80.
Both the benchmark indices had hit record high levels in intra-day trade on Wednesday.
Among the Sensex firms, Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra and ITC were the major laggards.
Power Grid, Reliance Industries, Nestle and HDFC Bank were the gainers.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading lower while Shanghai traded in the green.
The US markets ended lower on Wednesday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.38 per cent to USD 79.38 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,322.08 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
The BSE benchmark crashed 930.88 points or 1.30 per cent to settle at 70,506.31 on Wednesday. The Nifty fell by 302.95 points or 1.41 per cent to 21,150.15.