Sensex down 58 points in early session amid profit-booking

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 58 points in early trade today as investors engaged in profit-booking in recent gainers amid mixed Asian cues.

The 30-share Sensex declined 58.20 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 28,714.93, with sectoral indices led by banking, IT, auto, power and FMCG leading the fall.

The index had rallied 265.71 points in the previous session, tracking upbeat global cues after the US Federal Reserve left rates unchanged on Wednesday.

Also, the NSE Nifty was trading lower by 14.70 points, or 0.17 per



cent, at 8,852.75.Equity brokers said that apart from profit-booking in recent gainers, a mixed trend in other Asian markets as investors turned cautious after two days of gains, were mainly responsible for losses on the domestic bourses here.

Shares of Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Infosys, SBI, GAIL, Hero MotoCorp, Lupin and Tata Steel succumbed to profit-booking, which dragged the indices down.

Shanghai Composite was quoting 0.15 per cent lower while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.32 per cent in their opening sessions. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.12 per cent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.54 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.