Sensex drops 74 points on weak Asian cues

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex dropped by 74 points in late morning trade on Monday due to selling pressure in metal, realty, refinery and banking sectors amid foreign capital outflows and weak Asian cues.

However, shares of consumer durable and healthcare sectors firmed up on good buying enquiries.

The BSE-30 share index Sensex resumed lower at 20,479.03, and hovered in a range of 20,480.35 to 20,391.96 before quoting 20,439.95 points at 10:30am.

It showed a loss of 73.90 points or 0.36 per cent from its last weekend’s close.

The NSE 50-share barometer Nifty also moved down by 23.80 points, or 0.39%, to 6,065.70 at 10:30am.

Major losers were – Hindalco 2.60%, Bharti Airtel 2.21%, M&M 2.21%, Tata Steel 1.87%, Tata Motors 1.83%, ICICI Bank 1.25% and ONGC 1.23%.

However, Dr Reddy’s Lab firmed up by 1.73%, Sun Pharma 1.46%, Tata Power 1.28% and Cipla 1.17%.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs. 652.97 crore on last Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Asian stocks fell in their early trade after a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing growth added to concern that the global economic recovery is faltering.

Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea shed by 0.7 to 1.41%.

US stocks fell sharply on Friday amid continued unease over emerging markets and a number of high-profile earnings disappointments.