Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Thursday amid profit-taking after a seven-day rally and muted trend in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE benchmark declined 242.01 points to 79,874.48 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went down by 72.3 points to 24,256.65.

In the past seven trading days, the BSE benchmark gauge zoomed 6,269.34 points or 8.48 per cent and the Nifty jumped 1,929.8 points or 8.61 per cent.

From the Sensex firms, Eternal, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.

IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, and Tata Motors were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi index, Shanghai SSE Composite, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were trading lower while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 quoted in the positive territory.

US markets ended sharply higher on Wednesday. Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.50 per cent, S&P 500 surged 1.67 per cent and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.07 per cent.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.12 per cent to USD 66.20 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3,332.93 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark jumped 520.90 points or 0.65 per cent to settle at 80,116.49, the highest closing level since December 18, on Wednesday. The Nifty rallied 161.70 points or 0.67 per cent to 24,328.95.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)