Sensex trades flat in early trade, down 31 points

The benchmark BSE Sensex shed over 31 points in early trade today on selling in banking and IT stocks by investors after recent gains amid mixed Asian trends.

Investors were cautious ahead of July series expiry in the derivatives segment on Thursday, brokers said. The 30-share barometer, which had gained 384.82 points in the previous two sessions, fell by 31.39 points or 0.11 per cent to 28,063.95.

Also, the NSE Nifty declined by 15.20 points or 0.17 per cent to 8,620.45. Among major losers on BSE were Lupin, HDFC Ltd, Axis Bank, Dr Reddy’s, Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, which fell up to 0.78 per cent in early trade.Stocks of Maruti Suzuki too fell 0.61 per cent to Rs 4,582.80, ahead of its quarterly earnings to be released l+ater in the day.

Brokers said trimming of positions by participants to book profits amid a mixed trend at the other Asian markets taking negative lead from US markets and another fall in oil prices ahead of closely watched US and Japanese central bank meetings, influenced sentiments.

In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up by 0.81 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei fell by 1.55 per cent in early trade today. Shanghai Composite index rose 0.40 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.42 per cent lower in yesterday’s trade.