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| Photo Credit: VIVEK BENDRE

Benchmark equity indices declined in early trade on August 16 amid weak global market trends and continuous foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 369.03 points to 65,032.89. The NSE Nifty declined 117.35 points to 19,317.20.

From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, JSW Steel and ICICI Bank were the major laggards.

ITC, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, State Bank of India, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Hindustan Unilever and NTPC were the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the negative territory.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday.

Retail inflation spiked to a 15-month high of 7.44% in July as tomatoes, vegetables and other food items turned costlier, overshooting Reserve Bank’s comfort level for the first time in the current fiscal.

“There are strong headwinds, both globally and domestically, that can impact the market in the near term. Global headwinds are from the rising dollar index and spiking US bond yields. Consequently FIIs are selling. Domestically, the major headwind is the rising inflation,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.24% to $84.69 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹2,324.23 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Equity markets were closed on Tuesday on account of ‘Independence Day’.

The BSE benchmark climbed 79.27 points or 0.12% to settle at 65,401.92 on Monday. The Nifty gained 6.25 points or 0.03% to end at 19,434.55.