Sensex erases early gains, down 150 pts at 1100 hrs

Mumbai, Feb 15 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmarkSensex was down by nearly 150 points at 1100 hours today, withinitial gains erased by the emergence of heavy profit-bookingin capital goods and realty stocks.

The Sensex, which had surged to 18,278.62 in openingtrade, was down by 149.93 points at 18,052.27 at 1100 hours.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange Niftyindex was down by 46.40 points at 5,409.60 at 1100 hours.

Brokers said the emergence of profit-taking after a rallyduring the previous two sessions mainly dragged the Sensexdown.

Stocks of state-run BHEL fell by 2.96 per cent to Rs2,067, while engineering major, Larsen and Toubro was down1.98 per cent at Rs 1,627.90 as participants locked in gainsat prevailing levels.