Sensex drops 104 points, Nifty slips below 10,450

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex retreated from early record highs in late morning deals on bouts of profit-booking mainly in energy, oil & gas, consumer durables, realty, telecom and banks and financials stocks.

The Sensex dropped by 104.21 points to 33,626.98 as RIL, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI fell up to 2.47 per cent.

Barring IT and teck sectors, the market witnessed profit-booking on record highs led by index heavyweights like Reliance industries which lost over 2 per cent, as investors focused on corporate earnings and developments related to PSUs.

The 30-share Sensex resumed higher at 33,781.01 and surged to all-time high at 33,865.95.

The index fell to a low of 33,582.38 as profit booking emerged. It was quoting at 33,626.98 at 1045 hrs, showing a loss of 104.21 points, or 0.31 per cent.

The broader NSE Nifty was also slipped below the key 10,450-level, losing 35.65 points to 10,416.15, or 0.34 per cent.

Major losers were Reliance 2.40 per cent, Asian Paint 1.55 per cent, Bharti Airtel 1.36 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.23 per cent, PowerGrid 1.09 per cent and Axis Bank 1.01 per cent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 576.27 crore on Monday, as per provisional data released by stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 263.84 crore.

Asian markets were trading higher after Wall Street rose and turmoil in Saudi Arabia sent crude prices to two-year highs.

US stocks rose moderately on Monday, helping the three main stock benchmarks to close at all-time highs.