One-day respite over, stock markets fall in early trade on relentless foreign fund outflows

 MUMBAI: Equity benchmark indices fell in early trade on Tuesday amid continuous foreign fund outflows from the capital markets and largely muted earnings from corporates so far.

The BSE Sensex declined 322.24 points to 79,682.80 during the initial trade. The NSE Nifty went lower by 86.55 points to 24,252.60.

From the 30 Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel fell by nearly 3 per cent even as the company reported a 168 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,593 crore for the September quarter.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, Infosys and IndusInd Bank were also among the laggards.

NTPC, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Nestle were the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,228.08 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

"Caution prevails due to upcoming US jobs data and the presidential election, alongside heavy FII outflows, " Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

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

The US markets ended in positive territory on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude traded 0.18 per cent higher at USD 71.55 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark jumped 602.75 points or 0.76 per cent to settle at 80,005.04 on Monday. The Nifty soared 158.35 points or 0.65 per cent to 24,339.15.