Major indices declined in the opening hours of trading on Monday, with the BSE Sensex losing more than 255 points and being heavily pushed by Reliance Industries and sluggish international equity markets.

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In early trade, the BSE Sensex slipped 255.39 points to 55,816.84. The NSE Nifty fell 70.35 points to 16,649.10.

Reliance Industries plummeted the most among Sensex participants, by more than 3%, despite the company announcing a 46% increase in June quarter net profit.

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Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, HDFC, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, and ITC were the other laggards. Among the winners were IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Tata Steel.

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ICICI Bank shares were trading 1% higher following the release of its June quarter earnings. ICICI Bank reported a 55.04% increase in the June quarter consolidated net profit to Rs 7,384.53 crore on Saturday, owing to a steep reduction in provisions and robust core interest income.

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“RIL’s results, though impressive on the telecom and retail front, fell slightly below expectations in the refining space. ICICI Bank’s results are the best in the banking segment,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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In Asia, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading down, while Seoul was trading higher. On Friday, the US markets finished lower.

On Friday, the BSE index rose 390.28 points, or 0.70%, to 56,072.23. The Nifty rose 114.20 points or 0.69% to 16,719.45.

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According to market statistics, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 675.45 crore on Friday.

Separately, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, fell 0.53% to USD 102.70 per barrel. The rupee gained 9 paise against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, aided by a decline in crude oil prices.