Mumbai | Market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slumped on Thursday, taking their downward trend to the third day running amid unabated foreign fund outflows.

Intense selling in realty, auto, consumer discretionary and consumer durable stocks also dragged the markets lower.

The BSE Sensex tanked 494.75 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 81,006.61. During the day, it tumbled 595.72 points or 0.73 per cent to 80,905.64.

The NSE Nifty slumped 221.45 points or 0.89 per cent to 24,749.85.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Nestle declined over 3 per cent after the FMCG major reported a decline of 0.94 per cent in its net profit at Rs 899.49 crore for the second quarter that ended September 2024, as some of its key brands faced softer consumer demand and high commodity prices.

Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Maruti, Axis Bank and Tata Steel were among the other big laggards.

However, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India were among the biggest gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,435.94 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

European markets were trading higher in mid-session deals. The US markets ended in positive territory on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.27 per cent to USD 74.42 a barrel.

Falling for the second day, the BSE benchmark declined by 318.76 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 81,501.36 on Wednesday. The Nifty declined by 86.05 points or 0.34 per cent to 24,971.30.