Sensex snaps 2-day rally, down 52 points on profit-booking

In choppy trade, the BSE benchmark index Sensex today retreated from record levels to close down by 52 points as investors booked profits in IT, oil and gas and FMCG shares. The 30-share barometer had opened on a positive note and touched day's high of 24,925.90 points.

However, profit booking emerged later and the index fell to day's low of 24,773.93 points before settling at 24,805.83, a fall of 52.76 points, or 0.21%, over previous close. Investors booked profits after strong 641-point rally in the previous two sessions, brokers said. Weak global cues as investors awaited data on US jobs and a decision from the European Central Bank on monetary policy amid some selling by foreign funds also impacted the market, a broker said. The broad-based NSE 50-issue CNX Nifty also slipped from record high closing by losing 13.60 points, or 0.18% to end at 7,402.25.

Yesterday, Nifty closed at all-time high of 7,415.85, while Sensex had ended at record 24,858.59 (rpt) 24,858.59 after the RBI unlocked about Rs 40,000 crore of banking funds by cutting the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) by 50 bps. Reliance Industries, ONGC, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel, M&M and HDFC were among the 15 Sensex losers. ONGC was the top loser from the Sensex pack with a fall of 1.87%. Among BSE sectoral indices, the IT index fell by 1.27%, Oil and gas 1.26%, Teck 1.01% and FMCG by 0.23%. But realty index, capital goods, metal, consumer durables, PSU, power, auto and banking indices ended in the positive zone. Metal stocks, even in the weak market, continued their winning streak on strong Chinese factory output data.

Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries ended up to 3.48% higher, restricting fall in the Sensex. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 575.09 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.