Sensex fails to hold on to initial gains

MUMBAI: Stocks failed to hold on to early gains on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday, with the benchmark index, Sensex, declining by over 38 points in the opening session on profit-taking.

The Sensex, which was higher by 30.69 points fell back to trade 38.14 points lower at 11,439.34 in the first five minutes of trade.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange index, Nifty, was down by 21.70 points at 3332.20 after rising to 3353.90 at the outset.

The major losers were Larsen and Toubro, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, Satyam Computers, Reliance Energy and ITC Ltd.