Daijiworld Media Network- Mumbai

Mumbai, Jun 30: After a strong four-day rally that saw benchmark indices scale fresh highs, Indian equity markets opened in the red on Monday morning, weighed down primarily by profit-booking in banking counters.

The BSE Sensex declined by 182.77 points, trading at 83,876.13, while the NSE Nifty slipped 46.25 points to settle at 25,591.55 in early trade.

Leading the losses were heavyweights such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Axis Bank. On the other hand, Larsen & Toubro, Trent, State Bank of India, and Eternal managed to buck the trend and trade in the green.

This dip comes on the back of a sharp four-day uptrend where the Sensex rallied 2,162.11 points (2.64%) and the Nifty rose 665.9 points (2.66%), buoyed by robust foreign inflows and upbeat global cues.

In global markets, Asian indices largely maintained a positive tone with South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225, and China’s SSE Composite all trading higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng saw marginal declines. On Wall Street, major indices ended in the green on Friday, offering a mixed global signal.

On the institutional front, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net buyers, having purchased equities worth Rs 1,397.02 crore on Friday, exchange data revealed.

Meanwhile, international crude oil prices saw a slight dip, with Brent crude down 0.24% at USD 67.61 per barrel, offering some relief on the inflation front.

Friday’s session had seen the Sensex reclaim the 84,000-mark, closing at 84,058.90, while the Nifty ended at 25,637.80, powered by gains in IT, metal, and realty sectors. However, today's early declines indicate caution ahead of the new fiscal cues and upcoming macroeconomic data.