Sensex extends losses, down 66 points; Nifty below 10,400

Mumbai: Market benchmark BSE Sensex extended losses for the third straight day by shedding over 66 points in early trade today on selling by domestic institutional investors and foreign funds amid mixed Asian cues.

Also, selling pressure in oil & gas, FMCG, metal, PSU, bank and power stocks amid a depreciating rupee to weighed on market sentiment.

The BSE 30-share index slipped 66.48 points, or 0.19 percent, to 33,769.26. The benchmark had lost 82.20 points in the previous two sessions.

Major laggards were Hindustan Unilever, NTPC, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Tata Steel, falling by up to 0.75 percent.

NSE Nifty was trading down by 21.05 points, or 0.20 percent, at 10,389.85.

Gitanjali Gems stock continued its downturn, cracking 4.78 percent to Rs 12.95.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 432.03 crore, and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) also sold shares of Rs 258.98 crore yesterday.

The Sensex was down by 21.04 points or 0.06 percent at the Wednesday's closing. In the day's trade, the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index had touched a high of 33,875.15 points and a low of 33,580.69 points. The Nifty too was down by 15.95 points or 0.15 percent.

On Thursday, Asian indices were mostly showing a negative trend. Japan's Nikkei 225 was trading in red, down by 0.05 percent, Hang Seng up by 0.12 percent while South Korea's Kospi was also up by 0.02 percent. China's Shanghai Composite index was quoting in red, down by 0.04 percent.

Nasdaq closed in red, down by 0.19 percent while FTSE 100 was also down by 0.09 percent at the closing on Wednesday.

 

(With agency inputs)