Sensex slips into red after positive opening

Mumbai, Apr 4: The benchmark Sensex today slipped into red after opening with a positive gap on initial sellings in selected scrips. Sensex dipped at 15,689.37, lost 143.18 points in early trade. While, at the day's high of 15,896.09, it rose 63.54 points. The broader-based S&P CNX Nifty index of National Stock Exchange was down 15.15 points at 4,771.10.

The market opened on a positive note but soon slipped into red and extended its losses in the opening trade. Infosys Technologies and Larsen&Toubro were major losers, while Tata Steel and Grasim Industries were major gainers from the Sensex pack. IT and capital goods stocks declined. The market breadth was positive, brokers said.

Reliance Industries was flat at Rs 2,393.15. Mahindra&Mahindra decreased by 1.36 per cent to Rs 635, Hindustan Unilever was down 1.38 per cent to Rs 240, ITC dipped by 1.2 per cent to Rs 205.50, HDFC lost 1.39 per cent to Rs 2,413, HDFC Bank was down by 1.23 per cent to Rs 1,310.10.

As per provisional data, foreign funds sold shares worth a net Rs 393.41 crore yesterday. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 265.39 crore.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 132.39 crore in the futures and options segment on Thursday.

According to data released by the NSE, FIIs were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 248.96 crore. They sold index options worth Rs 86.22 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 28.70 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 1.66 crore.

UNI