Sensex falls below 11,500 mark on profit-booking

Mumbai, Apr 12 (UNI) The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell below 11,500 mark this afternoon with a loss of around 150 points, as the investors booked profit.

The Sensex was trading with a loss of 160 points at 11,502, at 1345 hrs, on the back of major global indices closing in the red.

US market indices - NYSE was down by 0.83 per cent, Nasdaq was down by 0.98 per cent and Dow Jones was down by 0.46 per cent, while Japanese Nikkei was down by 1.17 per cent.

Earlier in the morning, the 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) crossed the 11,700 mark while touching a high of 11,702.77, but slipped later on and was now at a low of 11,483, showing a swing of 220 points so far.

The crude oil prices touched a fresh high of USD 69 per barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), which was affecting investors' sentiments.

Also, the foreign fund outflow of Rs 427 crore on Friday, reported by market regulator SEBI and also in the derivatives market, was making an impact on the markets, an analyst said.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index too fell by 52 points to 3,425 around 1345 hrs. Nifty opened higher at 3,479, as compared to the last close at 3,478.

Earlier, the benchmark index of the BSE opened with a gain of 30 points at 11,693, as compared to the last close of 11,662.

The BSE smallcap index was up by 0.31 per cent and the midcap index was down by 0.52 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE metal index was up by 1.46 per cent and oil and gas index was up by 0.21 per cent.

All other sectoral indices were down this afternoon, led by indices of BSE information technology, which was down by 2.80 per cent, technology index was down by 2.38 per cent and FMCG index was down by 1.90 per cent.

The top gainers on the Sensex were - Hindalco, ACC, Dr Reddy's Lab, Reliance, Tata Steel, Tata Power and Bajaj Auto.

The top losers were TCS, Tata Motors, Infosys, ITC, Wipro, Cipla, Satyam Computers, Hero Honda, Grasim Industries and Larsen&Toubro.

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