Sensex trims initial losses, still down by 17 pts

The BSE benchmark Sensex trimmed its early losses but was still down by 17 points in late morning trade today on mild selling pressure in capital goods, metal, realty and auto sectors on weak Asian cues.
The 30-share index Sensex resumed steady at 20,725.52, but dropped to 20,645.00 immediately on initial profit booking. However, it recovered afterwards to 20,733.82 on sustained foreign capital inflows before quoting at 20,707.94 points (1030 hours).
It still showed a loss of 17.49 points or 0.08 per cent from its last close.
The NSE 50-share barometer Nifty also moved down by 15.05 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 6,149.30 at 1030 hours.

Major losers were - Hindalco Ind (3.62 pct), BHEL (2.75 pct), Tata Steel (2.09 pct), Larsen (1.82 pct) and Bharti Airtel (1.82 pct).
However, gainers were Wipro (2.19 pct), TCS (1.68 pct), SSLT (1.59 pct), Infosys (0.76 pct) and ICICI Bank (0.59 pct.

Asian markets declined as forecasts from Canon Inc to Posco disappointed investors.
Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea fell by 0.12 to 1.19 per cent.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 991.83 crores yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.