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| Photo Credit: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on September 18 after a record-breaking rally last week, in line with weak trends in global markets and caution ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.

After an 11-day rally, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 286.6 points to 67,552.03. The Nifty declined 70.7 points to 20,121.65.

Among the Sensex firms, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Wipro and Reliance Industries were the major laggards.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, NTPC and Asian Paints were among the gainers.

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

The U.S. markets ended in negative territory on Friday.

“Nervousness may come into play ahead of the next Fed meeting which is scheduled to conclude this Wednesday,” Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail) at Kotak Securities Ltd, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.42% to $94.30 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were buyers on Friday as they bought equities worth ₹164.42 crore, according to exchange data.

Rallying for the 11th day running on Friday, the BSE benchmark had jumped 319.63 points or 0.47% to settle at a record closing of 67,838.63. During the day, it rallied 408.23 points or 0.60% to hit its fresh all-time intra-day high of 67,927.23.

The Nifty went up by 89.25 points or 0.44% to end at its all-time closing high of 20,192.35. During the day, it advanced 119.35 points or 0.59% to hit its lifetime intra-day peak of 20,222.45.