Sensex, Nifty pare early gains, trade lower in the afternoon trade

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices pared all early gains and were trading lower in mid-session trade on Monday, with the Sensex plunging 215.18 points while Nifty declined to crack below the 25,000-mark amid profit-taking and decline in the shares of blue-chip HDFC Bank.

The BSE Sensex dropped 215.18 per cent to 81,473.27 in the afternoon trade after soaring 449.32 points earlier in the day. From its intra-day high of 82,137.77, the benchmark tanked 548.83 points to 81,139.62.

The NSE Nifty also slumped 191.65 points to 24,822.95. The benchmark hit an intra-day high of 25,143 in the early trade and a low of 24,798.65.

From the Sensex basket, NTPC, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones, PowerGrid, Titan, JSW Steel, Axis Bank and State Bank of India were among the major laggards.

However, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finance were trading in the green territory.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were settled on a higher note on Monday.

Wall Street ended with gains on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.14 per cent to USD 77.94 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 9,896.95 crore on Friday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 8,905.08 crore, according to exchange data.

On Friday, the BSE Sensex tumbled 808.65 points to settle at a three-week low of 81,688.45, while NSE Nifty slumped 235.50 points to 25,014.60.

Last week, the BSE Sensex tanked 3,883.4 points, or 4.53 per cent, and the Nifty slumped 1,164.35 points or 4.44 per cent.