Sensex turns choppy, Nifty slips below 11,000-mark on weak Asian cues; bank stocks among top laggards

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex turned choppy after rising over 117 points in opening trade, amid weak Asian cues and foreign fund outflows. The broader Nifty, too, slipped below the 11,000-mark. The 30-share index fell 74.69 points, or 0.20 percent, to 36,466.94 after touching a high of 36,558.71 in opening trade. Sectoral indices led by healthcare, realty, oil and gas, infrastructure, auto and banking were trading in the negative zone, falling up to 1.53 percent. The NSE Nifty, after rising to 11,019.50, turned negative to quote 38.95 points, or 0.35 percent, lower at 10,978.40. India’s trade deficit widening to a more than the three-and-a-half-year high of $16.6 billion due to costlier crude oil imports, weighed on investor sentiment, brokers said. Heavy selling activity was witnessed after investors began booking profits at current levels, they added. Shares of Infosys, however, topped the gainers list by rising about 2 percent even as company’s earnings fell below market expectations. [caption id=“attachment_4357795” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reutercent even as company’s earnings fell below market expectations.[/caption] Top laggards that dragged key indices were ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Yes Bank, RIL, Hero MotoCorp, SBI, M&M, Tata Steel, Vedanta, Coal India, Adani Ports and Axis Bank. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1,104.65 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 872 crore on Friday, provisional data showed. In the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.13 per cent, while Shanghai Composite fell 0.47 per cent in early trade. Financial markets in Japan are closed today for a public holiday. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, ended 0.38 per cent higher in Friday’s trade. Rupee slips 6 paise against US dollar The rupee fell 6 paise to 68.59 against the US dollar in early trade today on fresh buying of the American currency by importers. Traders said dollar’s strength against some currencies overseas and fresh demand of the US currency from importers weighed on investor sentiment. Besides, India’s trade deficit widening to a more than three-and-a-half-year high of $16.6 billion due to costlier crude oil imports, too kept pressure on the rupee. On Friday, the rupee saw a marginal four paise rise in its value at 68.53 a dollar.