Sensex slips from early gains, down 3 points in late morning

The benchmark BSE Sensex slipped from its initial gains while trading nearly flat in late morning deals following mild profit-booking in Telecom, power and oil & gas stocks amid subdued Asian cues.

The 30-share index resumed higher at 29,035.67 and hovered between 29,067.84 and 28,928.10 before quoting at 28,974.85 at 1100 hrs, showing a marginal loss of 3.17 or 0.01 per cent over its previous close.

Buying interest was seen in realty, metal, IT and teck counters capping the losses amid sustained FII inflows and weaker than expected US economic data taking chances of the US interest rate hike off the table.

The NSE 50-share Nifty was also trading marginally lower by 4.95 points or 0.06 per cent at 8,938.05.

Major losers were Asian paints 1.77 per cent, HDFC 1.48 per cent, NTPC 0.92 per cent, Bharti Airtel 0.89 per cent and Hero Motocorp 0.75 per cent.

Notable gainers include Tata Steel 1.78 per cent, SBIN 1.33 per cent, Wipro 0.92 per cent and ICICI bank 0.92 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,438.72 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading on a mixed note, while US stocks closed higher yesterday after surprisingly weak US services sector activity data.