Sensex Tanks 504 Pts; Nifty Slips on Bank Stock Selling

Mumbai, Dec 2 (PTI) Stock markets declined on Tuesday, with the benchmark Sensex tumbling nearly 504 points due to selling in blue-chip bank stocks and Reliance Industries, and persistent foreign fund outflows.

Falling for the third straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 503.63 points or 0.59 per cent to settle at 85,138.27. During the day, the benchmark tanked 588.9 points or 0.68 per cent to hit a low of 85,053. The index had scaled a record high level in intra-day trade in the previous session, but closed lower due to profit booking in the second half.

The 50-share NSE Nifty declined by 143.55 points or 0.55 per cent to 26,032.20.

Among Sensex firms, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Bharat Electronics and Larsen & Toubro were the biggest laggards.

However, Asian Paints, Maruti, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Finance were among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,171.31 crore on Monday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 2,558.93 crore, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Shanghai's SSE Composite index settled lower while South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended in positive territory.

Markets in Europe were trading higher. US markets ended lower on Monday.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, dipped 0.33 per cent to USD 62.96 per barrel.

On Monday, the Sensex pared early gains and ended 64.77 points or 0.08 per cent lower at 85,641.90. During the day, the benchmark jumped 452.35 points or 0.52 per cent to hit a record intra-day high of 86,159.02.

The Nifty dipped 27.20 points or 0.10 per cent to settle at 26,175.75. During the day, it climbed 122.85 points or 0.46 per cent to hit a lifetime high of 26,325.80.