Sensex eases by 19 points after hitting 3-week high

The BSE benchmark Sensex surged to a three-week high in early trade on Tuesday but failed to maintain the initial gains and was trading down by 19 points at 10.15 a.m. on profit-booking in oil&gas, IT, realty, FMCG and PSU counters.

The BSE benchmark Sensex resumed higher at 18,493.59 and shot up further to a three-week high to 18,527.45 amid strong buying in healthcare, consumer durable, power, capital goods and metal stocks on the back of strong inflows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

However, the Sensex declined immediately to 18,379,78 before quoting at 18,393.56 at 10.15 a.m., showing a loss of 18.85 points, or 0.10 per cent.

The NSE’s 50-share Nifty index also declined marginally by 4.40 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 5,522.20 at 1015 hours.

Major losers from the Sensex pack include Jaiprakash Associates (down 2.75 per cent), DLF (2.23 per cent), Wipro (1.80 per cent), ITC (1.16 per cent) and TCS (1.01 per cent).

Asian stocks rose in early trade on speculation that Greece may be allowed to roll over some of its bonds, easing concerns that the nation’s sovereign debt crisis will spread across Europe, one of Asia’s biggest export markets.

Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan were up by between 0.05 per cent and 1.14 per cent. The key benchmark indices in China, Singapore and Taiwan fell by between 0.01 per cent and 0.6 per cent.