Markets give up initial gains dragged by sharp fall in Kotak Bank, unabated foreign fund outflows

Equity benchmark indices began the trade on a buoyant note on Monday, helped by buying in blue-chip HDFC Bank, but later gave up all the initial gains amid a sharp fall in Kotak Mahindra Bank and unabated foreign fund outflows.

The BSE Sensex jumped 545.27 points to 81,770.02 in early trade. The NSE Nifty climbed 124.25 points to 24,978.30. However, soon the benchmark indices succumbed to profit-taking and were trading lower.

The BSE benchmark gauge quoted 136.52 points down at 81,060.86 and the Nifty traded 100.70 points lower at 24,753.35. From the 30 Sensex firms, Titan, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Tata Steel and HCL Technologies were among the biggest gainers.

HDFC Bank climbed nearly 3 per cent in early trade after the firm on Saturday reported a 6 per cent increase in September quarter net profit to Rs 17,825.91 crore on a consolidated basis.

On a standalone basis, the largest private sector lender's post-tax net grew to Rs 16,820.97 crore during the reporting period, as against Rs 15,976.11 crore in the year-ago period.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and NTPC were among the laggards. Kotak Mahindra Bank tanked over 5 per cent after the company's quarterly earnings failed to cheer investors.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai were trading in the positive territory while Hong Kong quoted lower. The US markets ended higher on Friday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 5,485.70 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. However, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 5,214.83 crore.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.44 per cent to USD 73.38 a barrel. Recovering from its early lows, the BSE benchmark had climbed 218.14 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 81,224.75 on Friday.

The Nifty ended 104.20 points or 0.42 per cent higher at 24,854.05.