Sensex, Nifty retreat on profit booking after record rally

Mumbai: Key benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Wednesday as profit booking emerged in banking and financial stocks after a stellar five-day rally.

The 30-share BSE Sensex had opened higher by 0.10 percent but failed to hold onto gains in early trade and declined by 102.99 points or 0.22 percent to 47,510.09.

The broad based Nifty was down by 27.45 points or 0.2 percent at 13,905.15 with 31 of its constituents trading in the red. The 50-share index had opened higher by 10.75 points at 13,943.35.

Banking stocks like State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank were among major losers among Sensex stocks. Besides, HDFC, Reliance, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and Sun Pharma also dropped due to profit booking.

Sensex and Nifty had scaled fresh record highs on Tuesday, extending their bull run for the fifth straight session on the back of gains in banking and IT stocks.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,349.53 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to provisional exchange data.

Asian shares were mixed after a lacklustre day on Wall Street. The S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent on Tuesday, a day after President Donald Trump signed the USD 900 billion economic relief package.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 percent a day after it surged more than 2 percent to its highest level in more than 30 years. Hong Kong rose by 1.2 percent while the Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.7 percent and South Korea's Kospi added 0.6 percent.