Sensex down 111 pts on profit-taking, foreign fund outflows

Stock markets snapped the three-day gaining run on Tuesday with benchmark Sensex dropping by 110 points due to profit-taking in select private bank and auto shares amid weak trends from the US markets and foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 110.64 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 73,903.91.

During the day, the index dropped by 270.78 points or 0.36 per cent to a low of 73,743.77.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 8.70 points or 0.04 per cent to 22,453.30.

Both Sensex and Nifty scaled lifetime high levels in intra-day trade on Monday before settling around 0.5% higher.

"The domestic market took a breather today after achieving a fresh record high yesterday.

"Factors such as a rising dollar, increasing US bond yields, and a notable uptick in crude oil prices collectively dampened investor sentiment," Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services said.

From the Sensex basket, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro were the major laggards.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle, Tata Motors and IndusInd Bank were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Shanghai settled lower while Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong ended in the positive territory. European markets were trading mostly in the green. Wall Street ended mostly lower on Monday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 522.30 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.61 per cent to $88.83 a barrel.

India's manufacturing sector growth climbed to a 16-year high in March on the back of the strongest increase in output and new orders since October 2020, amid reports of buoyant demand conditions, a monthly survey said on Tuesday.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) surged to a 16-year high of 59.1 in March, from 56.9 in February, reflecting stronger growth of new orders, output and input stocks as well as renewed job creation.