BSE Sensex, Nifty Fall; Banks Lead Losses

BSE Sensex and Nifty came under some pressure today after hitting record highs in the previous four sessions. Profit-taking was seen in banking, oil & gas and capital goods stocks. Weak Asian markets also weighed on the sentiment.

The Sensex fell over 150 points to hit at 27,739 at day's low. Nifty also slipped below the 8300 levels.

Market analyst Sarvendra Srivastava says Nifty is likely to trade in the 8200-8350 range in the near term.

Banking stocks came under some pressure today after their outperformance in the recent rally. SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and PNB were down nearly 1.5 per cent. HDFC Bank fell 1.4 per cent after a rejig in the MSCI India Index.

Bank of Baroda fell 1.75 per cent after the lender reported a sequential rise in its net non-performing assets in the second quarter.

Hero MotoCorp fell 2.5 per cent after reports said that US private investment firm Bain Capital is selling $200 million worth of shares of the two-wheeler manufacturer at a discount to the previous closing price.

Among market heavyweights, RIL and L&T were down nearly 0.7 per cent.

Some buying was seen in IT stocks after Cognizant forecast revenue above estimates. Infosys and Tech Mahindra rose 0.7 per cent.

DLF, up 4.7 per cent, was the biggest gainer among Nifty stocks after the Securities Appellate Tribunal on Wednesday allowed the real estate developer to redeem Rs 1,806 crore in mutual fund investments.

At 11 am, Sensex was down 90 points to 27,825 while Nifty fell 22 points to 8,316.25.

Asian shares wobbled in early trading on Friday, while the euro wallowed around two-year lows after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi vowed to take more easing steps to spark growth in the euro zone.

Investors were likely to remain cautious ahead of the key US nonfarm payrolls report later in the session. Solid gains in employment would increase speculation that the US Federal Reserve could raise US interest rates in the middle of next year.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down about 0.1 per cent in early trading, while Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.6 per cent. (With Agency Inputs)