While rupee begins on a high, Sensex starts on a subdued note

Stock markets opened on a subdued note on the first trading day of 2018, with the benchmark BSE Sensex declining over 18 points in early trade on profit- booking after recent gains.

The 30-share index, which had gained 208.80 points in the previous session, fell 18.19 points, or 0.05%, to 34,038.64 in early trade today.

Technology, power and metal stocks were leading the fall in early trade. Major losers were Wipro, Hindustan Unilever, TCS, NTPC, HDFC Ltd, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto, falling up to 0.88%.

However, L&T, SBI, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, ITC Ltd, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, Infosys and Asian Paint were trading in the positive zone.

The broad-based NSE Nifty was down 12.70 points, or 0.12%, to 10,518. Traders said profit-booking emerged in stocks that logged gains recently in absence of cues from other Asian markets that were closed for public holiday today.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.48% down on the final day of 2017 on Friday.