Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex pared losses after initial sharp slide, but was still down by 141 points in late morning trade following buying in in metal, Teck, banking, IT and healthcare sectors amid weak global cues. The BSE Sensex opened sharply lower at 24,787.11 and drifted further to 24,598.90 before quoting 24,793.75 at 1115 hours, down by 140.58 points or 0.56 per cent from its last close.
The 50-share Nifty was also down by 56.5 points or 0.74 per cent to 7,544.80 at 1115 hours. Major losers were, Cipla by 2.58 per cent, M&M by 2.36 per cent, BHEL by 2.21 per cent, Dr Reddy's by 2.15 per cent, HDFC by 2.02 per cent, Tata Steel by 1.83 per cent, Adani Ports by 1.78, SBI by 1.75 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 1.68 and ONGC by 1.64 per cent. However, gains in index heavyweight Reliance aided recovery for key benchmark from lower level. Reliance rose by 2.82 per cent followed by Tata Motors 2.15 per cent, Axis Bank by 1.53, NTPC 1.29 per cent and Maruti 0.93 per cent.
Meanwhile, Foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 1,236.95 crore last Friday, as per provisional data. In overseas markets, Chinese stocks led losses for Asian stocks on continued worries about the Chinese economy. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was down 2.4 per cent. The Hang Seng index was also down 2.45 percent. US stocks closed sharply lower last Friday, ending the week with the biggest percentage declines since September 23 2011. Selling was triggered by concerns over a slowdown in China's economy and plunging oil prices.
