BSE Sensex drops in afternoon trade on political worries

The BSE Sensex dropped by 116 points on profit-booking in banking, refinery, realty and healthcare sectors in view of political worries amid lower Asian cues.

The 30-share index resumed lower at 17,275.20 points and dropped further to 17,142.13. At 1.41 pm, it was trading 78.16 points lower , or 0.45 per cent, at 17,200.69.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved down by 25.30 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 5,217.40.

Among the major losers, Dr Reddy's Lab dropped 3.44 per cent, Sterlite Industries by 1.70 per cent and BHEL by 1.58 per cent. Hero Motocorp fell by 1.41 per cent, Tata Power by 1.34 per cent, Infosys by 1.26 per cent and Wipro by 1.23 per cent.

Asian stocks were mostly lower in their early trade after weak economic data in the US overnight.

Key benchmark indices in Japan, China, Taiwan and Singapore were down by 0.12 per cent to 1.05 per cent while indices in Indonesia, South Korea and Hong Kong rose by 0.05 per cent to 0.19 per cent.

With inputs from PTI