Mumbai: Extending Thursday's losses, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 139 points in early trade on April 24, due to continued foreign capital outflows and persistent selling by investors amid muted corporate earnings. Besides, weakness in the rupee which fell to a fresh three-month low of 63.43 against the dollar, negatively impacted investor sentiments.
The 30-share index was trading down by 139.29 points, or 0.50 per cent, at 27,595.73 with weakness in stocks of consumer durables, realty, capital goods, banking and power sectors, causing the decline. The index had lost 155.11 points in yesterday's highly volatile session. On similar lines, the National Stock Exchange Nifty dropped 50.35 points, or 0.60 per cent, at 8,347.95.
Cairn India shares plunged 2.34 per cent to Rs 208.60 after the company on April 23 reported its biggest loss of Rs 241 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31. Brokers said continued capital outflows by foreign funds on persistent concerns of foreign investors on tax claims despite the government's clarification, muted earnings and forecast of a below-normal monsoon, mainly dampened the sentiments.
A weak trend at other Asian markets too triggered selling on the domestic bourses, they said. Meanwhile, Infosys' shares fell 0.08 per cent to Rs 2,120.95 ahead of its Q4 earnings to be released later on April 24. Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.33 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.80 per cent in early trade on April 24. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.11 per cent higher in Thursday's trade.
