Sensex trims early losses, still down by 20 points

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A recommendation by a committee headed by Parthasarathi Shome to review General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) that the government may consider raising the rate of Securities Transaction Tax (STT) appropriately to make for shortfall in revenue from short term capital gains also weighed on the sentiment for the second day in a row.

The 30-share barometer resumed lower at 17,378.68 and dropped further to 17,322.20, but recovered afterwards to 17,364.58 at 1030 hours, still showing a loss of 19.82 points, or 0.11 per cent, from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved down by 7.30 points or 0.14 per cent to 5,246.45 at 1030 hours.

Major losers were NTPC (1.24 per cent), HDFC (1.11 per cent), Bharti Airtel (0.93 per cent), Tata Power (0.92 per cent) and Infosys (0.89 per cent), while these companies firmed up -- Tata Steel (1.42 per cent), Tata Motors (1.21 per cent) and Reliance Ind (1.18 per cent).

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth net Rs 54.79 crore yesterday as per the provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Asian shares edged lower in relatively quiet trading session today with investors looking ahead to major events later in the week. Key benchmark indices in Singapore, South Korea China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan fell between 0.03 per cent and 0.43 per cent.