Sensex pares early gains on selling in banking & finance

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex reversed its early gains to close lower by 304 points on Wednesday due to profit-taking in banking, financials and select IT stocks after a recent surge.

The 30-share BSE barometer opened higher and rose further to 58,416.56 in line with gains in Asian shares.

However, profit-taking by investors in recent winners and lackadaisical buying at higher levels dragged down the index which tanked over 420 points to hit the day's low of 57,568.59 points in the second half.

The Sensex finally closed lower by 304.48 points or 0.53 per cent to settle at 57,684.82. During the day, it tanked 420.71 points or 0.72 per cent to 57,568.59.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 69.85 points or 0.4 per cent to finish at 17,245.65 with 29 of its stocks ending in red. The key indices had gained over 1 per cent in the previous trade.

Among Sensex stocks, HDFC fell the most by 2.36 per cent.

Kotak Mahindra Bank lost 2.25 per cent, HDFC Bank fell by 1.26 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 1.97 per cent, Sun Pharma by 1.46 per cent, Maruti Suzuki India by 1.54 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra by 1.33 per cent, Asian Paints by 1.16 per cent and Infosys by 0.86 per cent.

Among major gainers, Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose by 2.31 per cent, Tata Steel by 2.15 per cent, and ITC by 0.86 per cent.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap index gained 0.39 per cent, while smallcap gauge dipped marginally by 0.02 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, banking (down 0.81 per cent), finance (0.74 per cent), auto (0.72 per cent) and industrials (0.56 per cent) were the biggest laggards.

The rupee pared initial gains to settle 24 paise lower at 76.42 against the US dollar on Wednesday, pressured by sell-offs in domestic equities and surging global crude prices amid geopolitical uncertainties.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.12 per cent to $117.8 per barrel.