Key indices opened lower on Thursday, driven down by index heavyweights Reliance Industries, IT and banking counters, amid an overall negative global market trend. In early trade, the Sensex slid 898.61 points to 58,638.46. Likewise, the Nifty fell 273.75 points to 17,485.55.

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Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, HCL Technologies, and ICICI Bank were among the biggest laggards in the Sensex pack. Among the winners were Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, and UltraTech Cement.

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Asian markets are trading mostly in the red with Nikkei 225 slipping 461.90 points or 1.64% to 27,629.63, Hang Seng losing 302.15 points or 1.51% to 19,652.24, Taiwan Weighted plunged 314.18 points or 2.08% to 14,781.26 and KOSPI was down by 45.05 points or 1.82% to 2,427.00. On the other hand, Straits Times rose 0.45 points or 0.01% to 3,222.12, Jakarta Composite added 5.47 points or 0.08% to 7,184.06 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.73 points or 0.24% to 3,209.87.

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The US markets had ended lower on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 31.16 points, or 0.8%, to 3,955. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 280.44 points, or 0.9%, to 31,510.43. The Nasdaq fell 66.93 points, or 0.6%, to 11,816.20. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 11.48 points, or 0.6%, to 1,844.12.

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On Tuesday, the Sensex rose 1,564.45 points, or 2.70%, to 59,537.07. The Nifty gained 446.40 points, or 2.58%, to 17,759.30. On Wednesday, equity markets were closed in observance of Ganesh Chaturthi.

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The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 4165.86 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 656.72 crore in the Indian equity market on August 30, as per provisional data available on the NSE.  

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Meanwhile, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, fell 2.84% to USD 96.49 a barrel. The rupee dropped 14 paise to 79.66 against the dollar in early trade on Thursday, reflecting the strength of the US currency globally.