Mumbai, Sep 29 (PTI) Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed marginally lower in a volatile session on Monday, extending their downtrend to the seventh day mainly due to selling in banking shares and persistent foreign fund outflows ahead of the RBI's interest rate decision later this week.

After gyrating between gains and losses in a restricted trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 61.52 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 80,364.94. During the day, it hit a high of 80,851.38 and a low of 80,248.84.

Falling for the seventh consecutive session, the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 19.80 points or 0.08 per cent to 24,634.90. Nifty has dropped more than 3 per cent in the seven straight sessions due to selling by foreign investors.

Auto and FMCG shares retreated while realty, energy, and metal shares advanced.

Among Sensex firms, Maruti, Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Adani Ports and Hindustan Unilever were the laggards.

However, Titan, State Bank of India, Eternal and Trent were among the major gainers.

"The domestic market concluded a volatile session on a flat note as investors turned more cautious ahead of a holiday-led truncated week and continued FII selling. Lack of clarity in the US-India trade deal and prolonged pressure on IT & pharma indices are near-term concerns for the market," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited said.

The BSE midcap gauge went up by 0.34 per cent while smallcap index dipped 0.17 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, teck declined 0.33 per cent, industrials (0.32 per cent), IT (0.25 per cent), auto (0.12 per cent) and capital goods (0.09 per cent).

Oil & Gas jumped 1.96 per cent, energy (1.10 per cent), realty (0.97 per cent), power (0.46 per cent), services (0.41 per cent) and metal (0.39 per cent).

In seven trading days, he BSE bencmark has tanked 2,649.02 points or 3.19 per cent, and the Nifty dived 788.7 points or 3.10 per cent.

"Markets started the week on a volatile note and ended almost unchanged, taking a breather after the recent slide. Following a flat start, the Nifty oscillated sharply on both sides before finally settling at 24,634.90. In line with the benchmark, the broader indices also closed on a flat note.

"On one hand, the overhang of recent US policy actions has eased slightly; however, persistent foreign fund outflows and caution ahead of the MPC meeting continue to weigh on sentiment," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

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

Equity markets in Europe were trading higher. US markets ended higher on Friday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 5,687.58 crore on Friday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 5,843.21 crore, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.25 per cent to USD 69.25 a barrel.

On Friday, the Sensex tanked 733.22 points or 0.90 per cent to settle at 80,426.46. The Nifty tumbled 236.15 points or 0.95 per cent to an over three-week low of 24,654.70. PTI SUM MR MR

Interest rate decision uncertainty weighs on markets, driving foreign fund outflows and pressuring banking shares ahead of MPC. Equity benchmarks fell marginally in a volatile session as selling in banking shares and persistent foreign institutional outflows, compounded by caution ahead of the Reserve Bank interest rate decision and MPC meeting, sustained a multi day downtrend despite mixed sectoral gains and domestic institutional buying.