Markets fall for 5th day; Sensex cracks 817 points in early trade

Benchmark indices continued their downtrend for the fifth session on the trot on Thursday, with the Sensex tumbling nearly 817 points in early trade, tracking weak global trends and selling in index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank.

Unabated selling by foreign institutional investors also weighed on the sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 816.78 points lower at 53,271.61. 

The NSE Nifty declined 234.05 points to 15,933.05.

From the Sensex firms, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, M&M, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Larsen & Toubro were among the major laggards.

In contrast, Power Grid emerged as the only gainer.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading lower, while Shanghai quoted marginally higher.

Stock exchanges in the US had ended lower on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.19 per cent to USD 106.22 per barrel.

Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth ₹3,609.35 crore on Wednesday, according to stock exchange data.

In the previous trade, the BSE Sensex ended at 54,088.39, lower by 276.46 points or 0.51 per cent.

The NSE Nifty dipped 72.95 points or 0.45 per cent to settle at 16,167.10.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, inflation continues to be a major headwind for markets.