Sensex down 98 points in early trade, Infosys falls 1.5 pc

The BSE benchmark index Sensex declined by 98 points in early trade today due to selling by funds and retail investors amid a weak trend in Asian markets.
The 30-share barometer fell by 98.34 points, or 0.53 per cent, to trade at 18,144.22 points. The index had lost 299.64 points in the previous session.
Infosys, which tumbled over 20 per cent in the previous session on disappointing Q4 results and a weak forecast for this fiscal, was down 1.5 per cent in early trade. Another IT giant TCS was also down over 1 per cent.
Consumer durables, IT, auto, realty and capital goods sector stocks bore the brunt of selling pressure.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 26.75 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 5,501.80 points.
Brokers said sustained selling by funds in the absence of positive trigger and weakening trend on other Asian bourses mainly dampened the trading sentiment.

Besides, investors were cautious ahead of wholesale price index inflation data for March and corporate earnings from bluechips, including RIL and TCS, they said.
Tata Motors was down over 2 per cent while Mahindra & Mahindra fell nearly 1 per cent.
On the other hand, gains in SBI and oil major ONGC restricted the fall in the barometer. SBI was up 1.46 per cent while ONGC gained 2.92 per cent in early trade.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei Index was down 1.21 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 1.25 per cent in early trade. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.08 per cent lower on Friday due to poor retail sales figure for March.