Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex was trading flat in late morning deals hovered by lower Asian cues and crude jumped as Saudi Arabia’s shake-up on anti-corruption crackdown.
Buying was witnessed in consumer durables, auto, FMCG, industrials and realty counters, while profit booking was seen in key telecom, energy and oil& gas stocks.
The 30-share Sensex resumed higher, but moved between 33,710.15 and 33,582.38 before quoting at 33,676.53 at 1130 hours, down 9.03 points, or 0.03 per cent.
The broader NSE Nifty was also trading flat, marginally lower by 9.25 points to 10,443.25, or 0.09 per cent with 30 of its constituents led by HPCL, BPCL and Airtel trading in the negative.
Major gainers were Tatamtrdvr 3.30 pct, M&M 2.99 pct, ONGC 2.58 pct, Tata Motors 2.04 pct, Maruti 1.26 pct and AdaniPorts 1.05 pct.
Losers included, BhartiArtl 1.26 pct, SunPharma 1.30 pct, Kotak Bank 1.17 pct and Reliance 1.00 pct.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 9,690.84 crore on Friday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 33.40 crore.
Asian stocks were trading lower as investors were cautious after a surprise shakeup over the weekend in Saudi Arabia and with President Donald Trump in Asia for more than a week of high-profile meetings.
The US stocks closed at records on last Friday with major indexes extending their lengthy upward moves on the back of strong results at Apple, which offset a mixed set of economic data.
— Rupee drops 17 paise vs USD —
The rupee slipped further by 17 paise to 64.71 per dollar against the American currency in late morning deals on persistent dollar demand from importers and banks.
The rupee opened lower at 64.66 per dollar as against last Friday’s closing level of 64.55 per dollar at the Interbank Forex Market (FOREX).
The Indian unit hovered between 64.74 and 64.67 per dollar during morning deals, it was quoting at 64.72 per dollar at 1130 hrs.
“Heavy foreign outflows from equities affecting the rupee sentiment,” a dealer said.
At overseas, the US dollar is mostly higher against basket of currencies in early Asian trade, while touching its highest level in nearly eight months versus the yen supported by expectations for continued monetary policy divergence between the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.
PTI