Sensex extends losses for second day, drops 103 points

Mumbai: Extending losses for the second straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell by another 103 points in early trade today on selling mainly in banking, auto, realty and refinery sector stocks on the back of lower  Asian cues.

ICICI Bank slipped by 1.72 per cent and HDFC Bank by 1.54 per cent as the stock also turned ex-dividend today.  The Sensex resumed slightly higher at 24,828.38 and moved  in a range of 24,664.88 and 24,831.79 before quoting at  24,702.38 at 1000 hours, showing a loss of 103.45 points, or  0.42 per cent, from its last close. 

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved down by 26.95 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 7,375.30 at 1000 hours.  Major losers were ONGC (1.92 per cent), ICICI Bank (1.72 per cent),Tata Power (1.65 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.54 per cent), NTPC (1.39 per cent)  and Hero Motocorp (1.30 per cent).  Asian stocks edged lower in their early trade today as investors await a European Central Bank policy decision later  in the global day.  Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China were down 0.07 pct to 0.81 per cent and Japan's  Nikkei Average rose 0.05 pct. 

HSBC/Markit's measure of the China service sector eased to 50.7 in May from April's 51.4, though that was still above the 50-point level that is supposed to separate growth from  contraction.  However, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought  shares worth a net Rs 192.56 crore as per provisional data  from the stock exchanges.