Sensex down 49 points in early trade on profit-taking

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday fell by almost 49 points in early trade on continued selling by funds and retail investors mainly in the stocks of metal, oil and gas and IT amid weak Asian cues.

The 30-share Sensex, which had lost nearly 31 points in the previous session, slipped by another 48.80 points to 17,505.50. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also dipped by 23.25 points at 5,228.95 points.

Brokers said apart from profit-booking by funds and retail investors, subdued trend on the other Asian bourses, which were down up to 1.8 per cent, mainly triggered selling on the domestic bourses. Stocks of metal, realty, oil and gas and IT sectors were major losers in the early morning session.

Among weak stocks, Sterlite Industries fell by 1.39 per cent to Rs 861.55, Tata Steel by 1.38 per cent to Rs 636.40, Reliance Industries by 0.49 per cent to Rs 1,103.75, Infosys Technologies by 0.73 per cent to Rs 2,656 ICICI Bank by 0.56 per cent to Rs 836.45.

Bucking the trend, Tata consultancy Services, however, shot up by Rs 24.20, or almost 3 per cent, to Rs 816.40, buoyed by strong quarterly earnings, while stocks of the country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, spurted by Rs 22.50 to Rs 1,439 after it raised the prices of some of its models.