The benchmark BSE Sensex declined by over 78 points in morning trade today on fresh selling in auto and banking stocks despite buying in realty, consumer durable, power and IT counters.
The 30-share index resumed slightly lower at 27,902.71 and was quoting 27,837.18 points at 1100 hours, showing a loss of 78.70 points, or 0.28 per cent, from its last close.
The CNX 50-share Nifty also eased by 20.80 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 8,317.50 at 1100 hours.
Major losers were Hero Motocorp (1.92 per cent), Sun Pharma (1.85 per cent), M&M (1.47 per cent), Coal India (1.36 per cent), Gail India (1.25 per cent) and HDFC Bank (1.18 per cent).
However, Dr Reddy's Lab gained by 1.52 per cent, followed by Cipla (1.35 per cent), HUL (1.10 per cent), Axis Bank (1.09 per cent) and Infosys (1.04 per cent).
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,030.85 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
Most Asian stocks rose in early trade today after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi vowed to take more easing steps to spark growth in the euro zone.
Key benchmark indices in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea rose by 0.05-0.59 per cent while indices in Hong Kong and Indonesia fell by 0.05-0.27 per cent.
US stocks ended higher yesterday with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting fresh record closing highs on an indication that the European Central Bank would take more policy action if needed to boost a struggling euro zone economy.
