Sensex starts to falter, but still up 67 pts

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex lost some of its early gains on mild profit-booking, but was still trading higher 67 points following good buying support, mainly in oil and gas, realty, healthcare, technology and IT sectors amid positive global cues.

Selling was seen in metal, capital goods, banking and auto sectors. The 30-share barometer resumed higher at 27,305.62 and moved in a range of 27,334.87 and 27,246.79 before quoting at 27,281.78, at 1145 hours, a rise of 67.18 points, or 0.25 per cent, from its last close.

The 50-share Nifty was also trading higher by 7.95 points, or 0.10 per cent, at 8,246.10 at 1145 hours.

Reliance covered most ground, up by 4.52 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Infosys.

Tata Motors slumped 2.16 per cent, followed by ONGC, Tata Steel, L&T and Wipro.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net bought shares worth Rs 436.79 crore last Friday, provisional data showed.

Overseas, Asian shares ruled near two-month highs as a batch of Chinese data showed that the world's second-largest economy is slowing further but is not in danger of a hard-landing.

US stocks ended higher last Friday, notching up a third week of gains, lifted by a jump in General Electric shares and upbeat consumer sentiment data

Both these bellwether indices had made gains for the third straight week ended last Friday, ever since the country's central bank eased key lending rates by 50 basis points on September 29.