Stocks make a muted beginning on F&O expiry

The Sensex made a tepid start and the Nifty flirted with 9,700 in early session today on relentless selling by foreign funds.Offloading of bets -- today being the last trading session of the September series contracts in the futures and options (F&O) segment -- made investors go slow.

The 30-share flagship index was down 44.27 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 31,115.54.

The gauge had fallen 1,263.95 points in the previous seven sessions.

BSE indices led by oil and gas, PSU, consumer durables, auto, healthcare, metal and bank stocks declined by up to 2.07 per cent.The 50-share NSE Nifty turned



lower by 43.10 points, or 0.44 per cent, at 9,692.65.

A depreciating rupee, which slipped 16 paise to a fresh six and a half month low of 65.88 against the dollar today, made traders all the more nervous.

Asian Paints, Adani Ports, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki and Reliance Industries slid up to 2.42 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng weakened 0.35 per cent while Shanghai Composite lost 0.24 per cent in early trade. Japan's Nikkei, however, moved up 0.29 per cent.

US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.55 per cent higher yesterday.