Sensex falls 71 points in early trade; banking, financial stocks derail

New Delhi: Markets shed opening gains in early trade led by losses in banking and financial stocks.

The BSE Sensex fell 71.17 points or 0.19 percent to 37,902.05 while the NSE Nifty dropped 7.90 points or 0.07 percent to 11,214.50.

Major losers in the Sensex pack were IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, Powergrid, NTPC, HDFC Bank, TCS, Bajaj Finserve, Bajaj Finance, LT and Kotak Bank, falling upto 2.41 percent. On the other hand, major gainers were Sun Pharma, Asian Paint, HUL, M&M, Titan, ONGC, Nestle, HDFC Bank, Ultrachem, RIL, Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Auto, rising upto 1.76 percent.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 8.41 points or 0.02 percent lower at 37,973.22. Similarly, the NSE Nifty slipped 5.15 points or 0.05 percent to 11,222.40.

Among Asian peers, MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3% led by a 1.2% gain in Hong Kong. S&P 500 futures were volatile, and gave up gains as large as 0.7% to trade 0.5% lower for the day, a Reuters report said.

Brent crude futures were last down 1.2% at $40.56 a barrel and U.S. crude futures were down by the same margin at $38.84 a barrel.
Gold slipped 0.4% to 1,890 an ounce, Reuters added.