Sensex sheds 70 points in early trade; banking, oil stocks drag

Domestic equities eased in early morning trade Tuesday, reversing the upward momentum seen in the past couple of sessions as investors shed their position in banking and oil & gas shares. Early gains in other Asian bourses failed to enthuse local investors who exercised caution after the recent upsurge, as worries of slowing growth and lack of pace in reforms held them back from taking fresh positions, said dealers. At 9.47 am, the 30-share benchmark Sensex was down 70.52 points or 0.25 percent at 27,616.78. The broader S&P CNX Nifty, too, exhibited weak trend falling 24.45 points or 0.29 percent at 8,349.20. [caption id=“attachment_2251468” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] However, despite early weakness, the market breadth remained positive with 1039 stocks advancing against 610 declines. Other Asian peers such as Nikkei was up 0.69 percent at 20,027.18 and Hang Seng rose 0.51% at 27,730.63 in early trade. Among the laggards in the Sensex pack, HDFC topped the losers’ list dropping 1.63 percent at Rs 1,242.25. Others such as Hindalco fell 1.51 percent at Rs 136.80, ONGC slipped 1.40 percent at Rs 317.25 and Gail was down 1.35 percent at Rs 387.50. Private sector banking stocks, too, came under profit taking with ICICI Bank declining 1 percent at Rs 312.95 and HDFC Bank falling 0.95 percent at Rs 999.60. Axis Bank also was down 0.53 percent at Rs 564.50. BHEL, Cipla, Coal India, M&M, Dr Reddy’s and SBI, too, faltered in early trade. Among the gainers, HeroMoto Corp jumped 2.52 percent at Rs 2,584, Bharti Airtel gained 1.1 percent at Rs 402.35 and Infosys was up 1.07 percent at Rs 2,013.