Stock markets decline in early trade after two days of rally

Market Performance - Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade, with Sensex dropping 116.57 points to 85,450.91 and Nifty declining by 27.15 points to 26,145.25 [1] - The Sensex had previously jumped 638.12 points or 0.75% to settle at 85,567.48, while Nifty climbed 206 points or 0.79% to close at 26,172.40 [3] Sector Performance - Major laggards among the 30-Sensex firms included Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Eternal, and Bharti Airtel [2] - Gainers in the market included Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, and Tata Steel [2] Institutional Activity - Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹457.34 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹4,058.22 crore [3] Global Market Context - Asian markets showed positive performance, with South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225, Shanghai's SSE Composite, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng indices trading positively [2] - US markets ended higher on the previous Monday [2] Commodity Prices - Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, dipped 0.08% to $62.02 per barrel [3]