Sensex declines 66 points due to fall in IT shares

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex dropped by 66 points in late morning trade today due to selling pressure in IT and tech shares.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) rose while ONGC and Oil India declined on reports that a panel of ministers has approved sale of a 10 per cent government stake in IOC to ONGC and OIL India through a block deal on the stock exchanges.
The BSE-30 share index, Sensex, resumed lower at 21,236.65 and hovered in a range of 21,192,36 and 21,270.11 before quoting at 21,199.22 at 1045 hours.
It showed a loss of 65.96 points, or 0.31 per cent, from its last close.

The NSE 50-share index, Nifty, also eased by 7.10 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 6,311.80 at 1045 hours.
IT major TCS dropped by 4.27 per cent.

Other major losers were HDFC (2.12 per cent), Wipro (1.51 per cent) and HDFC Bank (1.46 per cent).
However, Cipla rose by 1.66 per cent, ONGC (1.39 per cent), Sun Pharma (1.14 per cent), Coal India (1.08 per cent), HUL (1.05 per cent) and SSLT (1.00 per cent).
Asian stocks fell in their early trade as US bank earnings disappointed and investors waited for Chinese economic data due next week.
Key benchmark indices in China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were down by 0.15-0.56 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.76 per cent.