Sensex sheds 140 pts in early trade; FMCG, auto, bank shares weigh

Local shares retreated sharply in early trade Monday dragging the benchmark Sensex down by nearly 150 points as profit taking came to the fore in FMCG, automobile, banking and metal shares. At 10.40 am, the 30-share Sensex was quoted at 27,840.94, down 116 points or 0.4 percent, after slipping to a low of 27,814.10, down 143 points from its previous close. The broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was down 29 points or 0.3 percent at 8,430. Sharp fall in key domestic equity indices was evident despite sharp rally in other major Asian gauges such as Nikkei and Hang Seng which were up nearly 1-2 percent. [caption id=“attachment_2256342” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Despite the early weakness, market breadth was, however, marginally positive with 782 stocks advancing against 776 declines on the BSE. In the Sensex pack, Vedanta was the biggest laggard, falling 2.15 percent to Rs 203. ITC, which declared its fourth quarter earnings Friday, also came under profit taking and eased 1.92 percent to Rs 322.15, while Tata Steel fell 1.39 percent to Rs 336.80, Tata Motors was down 1.15 percent at Rs 508.65. Others suchas L&T, Tata Power, Cipla, Gail, HDFC and Hindustan Unilever, too, displayed weak trend in early trade, falling around 1 percent each. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel overcame early broad market weakness to trade 1.25 percent higher at Rs 400, while ONGC and M&M were up nearly 1 percent each. Reliance Industries, Dr Reddy’s and Hindalco, too, logged gains. “Markets have taken a pause after heading northwards over the past two weeks…investors are resorting to profit taking in select heavyweights as most of them have had a strong run-up in recent sessions,” said a dealer. In the past two weeks, the Sensex gained over 850 points or 3 percent on expectations of more reforms in coming months besides hopes of a rate cut by the RBI amid falling inflation and sluggish growth.