Sensex slips below 35,000-mark in early trade; Nifty dips; power, banking, auto stocks in negative terrain

Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex slipped below the 35,000-mark by dropping over 100 points to 34,911.11 in early trade Monday after banking, metal and auto stocks declined following weak global cues and profit-booking. The 30-share index fell 100.54 points, or 0.29 percent, to 34,911.11. The gauge had rallied nearly 580 points Friday. The NSE Nifty, too, was trading 39.80 points, or 0.38 percent, lower at 10,513.20. Sectoral indices, led by power, metal, banking and auto stocks, were trading in the negative terrain, falling by up to 1.44 percent. Brokers said sentiments were weak largely in tandem with a negative trend in other Asian markets, tracking losses at the Wall Street, and profit-booking by investors after Friday’s rally. NTPC fell the most by 3.01 percent among Sensex scrips, followed by IndusInd Bank shedding 2.17 percent. [caption id=“attachment_5263731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. Reuters[/caption] Other laggards were PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Vedanta, M&M, Asian Paint, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Auto, RIL, Tata Steel, HUL and HDFC, falling up to 1.95 percent. On the other hand, Axis Bank, ONGC, Sun Pharma, SBI and Yes Bank were trading positive, rising up to 1.98 percent. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 196.90 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares to the tune of Rs 852.99 crore. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was down by 1.16 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.52 percent. Korea fell 1.50 percent, Shanghai Composite Index shed 2 percent and Taiwan lost 0.89 percent. The US Dow Jones Industrial had ended 0.43 percent lower Friday.