Daijiworld Media Network- Mumbai

Mumbai, Apr 24: After a seven-day winning streak, Indian equity benchmark indices took a breather on Thursday morning, slipping into the red as investors booked profits amid a subdued trend across major Asian markets.

The BSE Sensex dropped by 242.01 points to open at 79,874.48, while the NSE Nifty fell 72.3 points to 24,256.65 in early trade.

The pullback comes after a robust rally where the Sensex had soared by 6,269.34 points, or 8.48 per cent, and the Nifty jumped 1,929.8 points, or 8.61 per cent, over the last seven sessions, driven by strong global cues and sustained inflows.

Among the laggards dragging the market down on Thursday were major players such as Eternal, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, and HDFC Bank. On the other hand, counters like IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, and Tata Motors traded with gains, offering some resistance to the overall decline.

In the broader Asian region, the sentiment remained cautious. South Korea’s Kospi, Shanghai’s SSE Composite, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were all trading lower. However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 bucked the trend and showed gains in early trade.

Wall Street, in contrast, had a strong session overnight. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.50 per cent, the S&P 500 surged 1.67 per cent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.07 per cent, lending some underlying support to global investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude edged up slightly by 0.12 per cent to USD 66.20 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained bullish on Indian equities, infusing Rs 3,332.93 crore on Wednesday, as per data from stock exchanges.

On Wednesday, the Sensex had closed at 80,116.49—its highest since December 18—after gaining 520.90 points (0.65 per cent), while the Nifty rose by 161.70 points (0.67 per cent) to end at 24,328.95.