Sensex tanks 130 points in early trade on on continued selling

The benchmark BSE Sensex tanked about 130 points in early trade on continued selling by participants, tracking losses in Asian shares. Caution ahead of expiry of April contracts in the derivatives segment on Thursday also influenced sentiment. Falling for the third straight session, the 30-share barometer fell by 129.88 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 25,549.05. The index had fallen by 201.45 points in the previous two straight sessions.

Sectoral indices led by consumer durables, FMCG, banking, healthcare, capital goods, auto and IT were trading in the negative zone, falling up to 1.09 per cent. Also, the NSE Nifty shed 32.15 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 7,822.90.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki were trading 0.25 per cent down at Rs 3,725 ahead of fourth quarter earnings, to be released later today. Apart from persistent profit-booking by investors in recent outperformers, a weak trend at other Asian markets ahead of US Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting beginning later in the day pulled the indices down, brokers said.

Moreover, persistent selling by domestic financial institutions negatively impacted sentiment, they said. While Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down by 1 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei fell by 1.26 per cent, the Shanghai Composite Index was quoting 0.28 per cent lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.15 per cent lower in yesterday’s trade after staying in the positive zone for most part of the day.