Sensex slips 23 points in late morning trade

Mumbai: The BSE benchmark Sensex was trading lower by 22.53 points in a choppy morning session after participants took to profit-booking in key frontline shares of telecom, IT and teck sectors amid mixed Asian cues.

While, buying interest was seen in realty, consumer durables, capital goods and banking sectors. The 30-share index resumed higher at 28,167.66 and hovered between 28,212.30 and 28,092.06 before quoting at 28,100.91 at 1100 hrs, showing a loss of 22.53 points or 0.08 per cent from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty was trading flat, marginally lower by 3.80 points or 0.04 per cent at 8,669.45. Major losers were, Coal India by 1.48 pct, Bharti Airtel 1.15 pct, TCS 0.92 pct, PowerGrid 0.82 pct and HDFC 0.81 pct.

Notable gainers include, SBIN 3.32 pct, Asian Paint 1.11 pct, Cipla 1.05, NTPC 0.75 and L&T 0.50 pct. Meanwhile, closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 162.17 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Overseas, Asian markets were trading mixed, US stocks eked out gains yesterday following upbeat earnings and forecast from Wal-Mart and as higher oil lifted energy shares.