Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on Wednesday amid profit-taking as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines after a record rally and ahead of the monthly derivatives expiry. The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 171 points to 84,743.04 in early trade. The NSE Nifty declined 48.7 points to 25,891.70. From the 30 Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, Nestle, Adani Ports, Infosys, Tata Motors and State Bank of India were the biggest laggards.
Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank and Maruti were among the gainers. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,784.14 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data."The monthly expiry on Thursday could result in sideways movement in intra-day trades, but a bullish undertone and robust growth prospects going ahead would see the markets bounce back at regular intervals," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.