Mumbai, Jul 25 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Friday dragged down by Bajaj Finance and persistent foreign fund outflows.

A weak trend in Asian markets also dented investors' sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 407.45 points to 81,776.72 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 144.3 points to 24,917.80.

From the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance tanked nearly 6 per cent post its June quarter earnings announcement. Bajaj Finserv fell by over 4 per cent.

Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid and Maruti were also among the laggards.

However, Eternal, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech and State Bank of India were the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,133.69 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. However, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 2,617.14 crore.

"The near-term market construct has turned weak. Sustained FII selling of Rs 11,572 crore in the last four trading days will weigh on the market," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng quoted lower while South Korea's Kospi traded in positive territory.

The US markets ended on a mixed note on Thursday.

India and the UK signed a landmark free trade agreement on Thursday, which, starting next year, will see 99 per cent of Indian exports enter the UK duty-free, while reducing tariffs on British products such as cars and whisky.

The deal, which comes days ahead of the US moratorium on higher tariffs coming to an end, aims to double the USD 56 billion trade between the world's fifth and sixth largest economies by 2030.

"The India-UK FTA, which is India’s first comprehensive trade agreement with a major developed country, has two implications from the market perspective. One, this FTA will significantly boost trade between both countries, which will be seen as a positive by the market. Two, this FTA along with many other FTAs signed by India with other countries, projects India as a nation committed to free trade. The fact that this FTA has come during a time of tariff wars is commendable, and hopefully this will improve India’s chances of striking a fair-trade deal with the US," Vijayakumar added.

Sectors like textiles, leather, food processing, automobiles, pharmaceuticals and gems and jewellery, which are expected to benefit from the FTA, will be on the market radar, he said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.39 per cent to USD 69.45 a barrel.

On Thursday, the Sensex tanked 542.47 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 82,184.17. The Nifty dropped 157.80 points or 0.63 per cent to 25,062.10. PTI SUM SUM DR DR

Free trade agreement expands duty free access and reshapes trade incentives, influencing market sentiment and sectoral prospects. Equity benchmarks fell in early trade primarily due to large-cap sector-specific earnings shocks and sustained net foreign institutional investor outflows that weakened near term market structure; domestic institutional purchases only partly offset the selling. The newly announced comprehensive free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, which grants near universal duty free access for Indian exports and reduces tariffs on certain UK goods, is expected to reshape trade incentives and highlight sectors likely to benefit from increased market access.