Sensex off record-high; falls 58 points in early trade

Sensex DownMumbai: Snapping its bull-run for eight consecutive sessions, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 58 points in early trade on Wednesday as participants locked-in gains at current levels amid a weak trend overseas.

Besides, profit-booking in stocks of realty, auto, metal, banking, capital goods and oil & gas sectors, negatively impacted trading sentiments.

The 30-share barometer fell by 58.56 points, or 0.19 percent, to 29,512.48. The gauge had rallied by 2,224.22 points in the previous eight straight sessions on the back of sustained foreign fund inflows.

Yesterday, the gauge had closed at a fresh lifetime peak of 29,571.04 after climbing to a new intra-day record-high of 29,618.59 as investors cheered the strengthening of Indo-US trade ties.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also slipped from record-high and shed 6.10 points, or 0.07 percent, to 8,904.40. It closed at an all-time high of 8,910.50 after recording a new intra-day peak of 8,925.05 in yesterday's trade.

Brokers said emergence of profit-booking by cautious investors in recent gainers at record levels ahead of tomorrow's monthly expiry in the derivatives segment mainly pulled down the key indices from their peaks.

Besides, a weakening trend at other Asian markets following yesterday's heavy sell-off in US markets on poor earnings reports negatively impacted trading sentiments here, they said.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei moved down by 0.86 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.01 percent in early trade today.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.65 percent lower in yesterday's trade.--PTI