Sensex Down 106 Points On Weak Asian Cues


Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 106 points in early trade today on selling in banking, oil and pharma stocks by investors amid weak global trends.

Investors were cautious ahead of October series expiry in the derivatives segment on Thursday, brokers said.

The 30-share barometer, which had lost 108.85 points yesterday, fell further by 106.83 points or 0.39 percent to 27,255.13.

All the sectoral indices led by healthcare, realty and banking were trading in the negative zone with losses up to 0.39 percent.

Also, the NSE Nifty declined by 27.40 points or 0.33 percent to 8,233.15.

Housing finance major HDFC was down over 2 percent after it posted moderate growth in profit for the second quarter of 2015-16 fiscal.

Among major losers on BSE, oil major ONGC was down 2.5 percent and Lupin by 2.2 percent. Metal stocks Hindalco and Vedanta fell up to 2 percent while telecom major Bhari Airtel fell up to 1 percent in early trade.

ITC, Coal India and Tata Steel were also down up to 1 percent, dragging the broader index into negative zone.

On the other hand, auto stocks Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Mahindra and Mahindra posted gains of up to 1 percent.

Brokers said offloading of positions by participants, tracking a weak trend at the other Asian markets as investors await the start of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later in the day influenced sentiments.

In Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.93 percent, while Japan's Nikkei fell by 0.67 percent in early trade today. Shanghai Composite index was down 2.09 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.13 percent lower in yesterday's trade.

Source: PTI