Markets give up early gains; trade lower on profit-taking

Mkt indices rose in early trade but later gave up gains due to profit-taking & muted US mkt. Sensex fell 214.84 pts to 66,687.07 & Nifty 55.80 pts to 20,040.80. Major gainers: UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, Wipro, HUL, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank & L&T. Asian mkt mixed, US mkt mostly lower. Brent crude down 0.18%. FIIs bought ₹71.91 cr. BSE benchmark jumped 727.71 pts to 66,901.91 & Nifty 206.90 pts to 20,096.60.

Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Thursday but later gave up all the gains to quote lower on emergence of profit-taking amid the scheduled monthly derivatives expiry and muted trend in the US markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 118.2 points to 67,020.11 in early trade. The Nifty went up by 39.55 points to 20,136.15.

Later, both the benchmark indices gave up all the early gains and were trading lower. The Sensex traded 214.84 points lower at 66,687.07 while the Nifty fell 55.80 points to 20,040.80.

Among the Sensex firms, UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Larsen & Toubro were the major gainers.

Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors and NTPC were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong traded with gains, while Seoul and Tokyo quoted in the negative territory.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday.