Sensex, Nifty log first fall in 4 days on profit-booking

Mumbai: Retreating from its two-month high, the benchmark Sensex today recorded its first drop in three sessions, falling over 58 points in a highly volatile trade due to profit-booking in metal, oil and gas and pharma sector stocks amid a mixed trend in the global market.

The gauge after opening a tad higher quickly slipped into negative terrain following profit-booking in recent gainers and touched a low of 27,216.40.

However, it staged a comeback temporarily to hit a high of 27,432.07 during mid-session.

Soon, profit-booking resurfaced which ate into the gains and took the benchmark back to the negative zone, which closed down 58.09 points, or 0.21 percent, at 27,306.83. The index had risen over 585 points in the past three sessions.

The 50-share NSE Nifty ended down 13.40 points, or 0.16 percent, at 8,261.65 after shuttling between 8,294.05 and 8,229.20.

In the previous three sessions, the markets rose on the back of continued foreign fund inflows and a mixed bag of earnings by blue-chips so far.

Of the 30-pack Sensex, 23 ended with losses and 7 finished higher.

Investors after remaining buyers in the past three sessions opted to book profit in heavy-weight stocks, brokers said.

The rupee depreciated 16 paise to 64.96 against the American currency (intra-day), which too weighed, they said, adding that a mixed closing at other Asian markets and a lower opening in Europe influenced sentiment.

Shares of Hero MotoCorp, the largest motorcycle maker, fell 0.71 percent ahead of earnings to be announced later in the day.

Metal company stocks bore the brunt during the session with Vedanta Ltd, Tata Steel and Hindalco falling up to 6.42 percent.

Other losers which also contributed to the fall include ONGC, Cipla, M&M, RIL, Bajaj Auto and Sun Pharma.

TCS, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Infosys and NTPC bucked the trend, thus cushioning the impact.

Sector-wise, the BSE Metal index suffered the most by losing 1.80 percent, followed by oil & gas, realty, healthcare, PSU and FMCG.

Aided by persistent buying from retail investors, the broader markets outperformed the Sensex with the mid-cap index rising 0.53 percent while small-cap index gained 0.18 percent.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 898.23 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by stock exchanges.