Sensex trims initial losses, still down by 40 pts

The S&P BSE benchmark Sensex trimmed its initial losses but was still quoted down by 40 points in late morning trade due to profit-booking, mainly in power, banking and capital goods stocks on the back of weak Asian cues in spite of buying in IT and Teck counters.
Shares of NTPC tumbled 9.69 per cent after Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) released Draft Regulations, 2014 for the period 2014-19 for power generation companies. The stock was the biggest loser from the Sensex pack.
The Sensex resumed lower at 21,293.58 and dropped further to 21,239.02 on fresh selling. But, it recovered immediately to 21,327.75 before quoting at 21,286.92 at 1030 hrs, showing a loss of 39.50 points or 0.19 per cent from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved down by 21.20 points or 0.33 per cent to 6,342.70 at 1030 hrs.
Other losers were BHEL (4.69 per cent), L&T (3.00 per cent), ICICI Bank (2.20 per cent), Tata Power (2.02 per cent) and ONGC (1.33 per cent).
However, TCS rose by 2.87 per cent followed by Wipro (1.75 per cent), Infosys (1.08 per cent) and Hero Motocorp (1.05 per cent).

Most Asian stocks edged lower in their early trade after the biggest rally in three weeks, as investors await data on Chinese industrial production.
Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong shed 0.06 per cent to 0.36 per cent, while indices in China and Indonesia rose 0.17 per cent to 1.27 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 2,473.17 crore yesterday as per the provisional data from the stock exchanges.