Markets end down; Sensex dips 16 points

Equity benchmark indices snapped three days of rally to settle marginally lower on Tuesday amid weak trends in Asian and European markets along with unabated foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dipped 16.29 points or 0.03 per cent to settle at 64,942.40.

During the day, it declined 320.59 points or 0.49 per cent to 64,638.10.

The Nifty slipped 5.05 points or 0.03 per cent to 19,406.70.

Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, JSW Steel, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Bharti Airtel were the major laggards.

Sun Pharma, NTPC, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank were the major gainers.

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

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 2.12 per cent to $83.37 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 549.37 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.