Markets fall in early trade

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark indices fell in early trade on Monday, extending its previous day's decline amid profit-taking after rallying to all-time high levels last week.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 156.76 points to 62,711.74 after a weak beginning. The broader NSE Nifty dipped 38.95 points to 18,657.15.

Among the Sensex pack, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle, Power Grid, Titan, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, HDFC and Reliance Industries were the major laggards.

Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Wipro and Bajaj Finance were among the winners.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted higher, while Seoul traded lower.

Wall Street had ended on a mixed note on Friday.

''The market's response to the RBI's policy meeting, together with other macroeconomic data and events on the domestic and global fronts will decide the direction of the Indian equity market,'' said Mohit Nigam, Fund manager & Head, Hem Securities.

The 30-share BSE benchmark fell 415.69 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 62,868.50 on Friday. The Nifty dipped 116.40 points or 0.62 per cent to end at 18,696.10.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.10 per cent higher at USD 86.51 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 214.76 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.

The RBI will come out with its next bi-monthly policy review on December 7 at the end of a three-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) beginning Monday.