Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty fell in early trade on Thursday dragged down by IT stocks and relentless foreign fund outflows.

The BSE Sensex declined 225.17 points to 79,707.66 in early trade. The NSE Nifty fell by 60.85 points to 24,280.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Titan, Maruti Suzuki and UltraTech Cement were the biggest laggards.

In contrast, Larsen & Toubro jumped over 5 per cent after the infrastructure major posted a 5 per cent rise in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,395 crore in the September 2024 quarter on account of higher income.

Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, Tata Steel and State Bank of India were also among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Wednesday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 4,613.65 crore, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo were trading lower while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted in the green.

The US markets ended in the negative territory on Wednesday.

"This Diwali it is unlikely to see fireworks in the market. India has been underperforming in October with Nifty down 5.7 per cent when markets in US and Japan have delivered positive returns and China and Hong Kong have hugely outperformed.

"India’s underperformance is driven by lofty valuations, relentless FII selling and concerns over slowing earnings growth. In the near-term, this scenario is unlikely to change, reversing the trend decisively, even though mild pullbacks are possible," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.48 per cent to USD 72.90 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled 426.85 points or 0.53 per cent to settle at 79,942.18 on Wednesday. The Nifty dropped 126 points or 0.51 per cent to 24,340.85.

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