The BSE Sensex and the broader Nifty are trading lower on increasing caution over slowing foreign portfolio investments.
Overseas investors sold index futures worth 4.44 billion rupees ($73.91 million) on Tuesday, resuming their five-day selling streak after a one-day halt on Monday.
Foreign institutional investors bought Indian shares worth 459 million rupees on Tuesday, lower than the five-day average, provisional exchange data shows, on increasing caution ahead of the election results on May 16.
ICICI Bank falls 0.7 percent while Hindalco Industries is down 1.5 percent.
Infosys falls 0.85 percent after UBS downgrades the stock to “sell” from “buy” and cuts its target price to 2,750 rupees from 4,050 rupees, saying a turnaround at the IT outsourcer could take longer than expected.
However, Lupin Ltd
gains 1.2 percent ahead of its January-March results later in the day.
BSE Sensex down 22 pts in early trade on profit booking
The benchmark BSE Sensex fell by 22 points in early trade today as funds and retail investors preferred to book profits after two sessions of gains amid a weakening global trend.
The 30-share barometer, which had gained 104.53 points in the past two sessions, declined by 21.92 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 22,486.50 with stocks of metals, banking and IT sectors coming under some pressure.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty also traded lower by 4.25 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 6,711.05.
Brokers said apart from profit-booking by participants at prevailing levels, a weak trend on the other Asian bourses following overnight weakness at the US market on disappointing corporate earnings mainly dampened the trading sentiments here.
Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell by 2.30 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.33 per cent in early trade today.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.78 per cent lower in yesterday’s trade.
