Sensex trims initial gains, down 21 points in late morning deals

Mumbai: Benchmark indexes trimmed their initial gains and were marginally lower in highly volatile late morning deals following fresh selling in oil&gas, metal, realty, capital goods and energy sectors.

However, bargain hunting after yesterday's sharp fall were seen in IT, telecom, teck and auto stocks. The BSE Sensex opened higher at 23,060.39 and moved in a range of 23,116.27 to 22,785.67 before quoting 22,930.82 at 1100 hours, down 21 points or 0.09 per cent.

The NSE Nifty was also trading down by 8.35 points or 0.12 per cent to 6,968. The BSE mid-cap index and the BSE small-cap index was down by 1.66 per cent and 2.33 per cent, respectively. Major losers were, BHEL 9.97 pct, ONGC 3.82 pct, GAIL 3.67 pct, Tata Steel 3.60 pct, ICICI Bank 3.26 pct, Adani Ports 2.84 pct, Bajaj Auto 2.62 pct, Larsen 2.50 pct, Reliance 2.10 pct, SBI 1.36 pct and Cipla 1.16 pct.

However, Tata Motors rose by 5.57 pct, followed by HDFC 1.72 pct, Axis Bank 1.72, NTPC 1.69, TCS 1.30 pct, Asian Paints 1.30 and Bharti Airtel 1.18 pct. Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 1,112.66 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

In the overseas market, Asian stocks fell as investors continued to dump riskier assets. Japan's Nikkei tumbled 5.3 per cent to its lowest level in more than 15-months. Chinese stock markets remained closed for Lunar New Year holiday.

In the US, Dow Industrial fell for a fifth day in a row yesterday, falling amid a global rout led by tumbling oil prices and losses in equities.