Stock Market Today: Following a two-day rally, the equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell in early trading on Tuesday, driven lower by weak Asian market trends and IT stocks. In early trading, the 30-share BSE benchmark gauge, the Sensex, fell 460.38 points to 81,716.07. At 24,839.10, the NSE Nifty fell 162.05 points.

Later, the Nifty quoted 178 points lower at 24,807.95, while the BSE benchmark fell 627.86 points to 81,548.59. Ahead of Wednesday's release of April industrial and manufacturing production data, investors became cautious.

Top Losers and Gainers

The Sensex companies that lagged behind were NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Tech, Tata Consultancy Services, Eternal, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Axis Bank, and Tata Motors. The sole beneficiary was IndusInd Bank.

Global Markets

The Kospi in South Korea, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan, the SSE Composite index in Shanghai, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong were all trading lower in the Asian markets. On Monday, US markets were closed in observance of Memorial Day.

Exchange data shows that on Monday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased stocks valued at Rs 135.98 crore. Brent crude, a global oil benchmark, fell 0.26 per cent to USD 64.57 per barrel.

On Monday, the BSE Sensex surged 455.37 points, or 0.56%, to end the day at 82,176.45. At 25,001.15, the Nifty increased 148 points, or 0.60 percent.