Sensex, Nifty retreat from record highs on profit-booking

Retreating from record highs, the Sensex and the Nifty on Tuesday fell by about 54 points and 21 points respectively on profit-booking in recent out-performers like ICICI Bank, Infosys, L&T and ONGC, amid caution in view of the hearing of coal blocks case in the Supreme Court.

The BSE Sensex , after shuttling between 27,328.27 and 27,177.09, ended with a loss of 54.53 points, or 0.20 per cent, to end at 27,265.32. Yesterday, the 30-share bluechip benchmark had ended at its all-time closing high of 27,319.85 after hitting intra-day high of 27,354.99.

On similar lines, the NSE Nifty lost 20.95 points, or 0.26 per cent, to close at 8,152.95 after moving between 8,126.50 and 8,174.55. Its previous all-time closing high of 8,173.90 was hit yesterday after touching intra-day record high of 8,180.20.

Marked losses in recent gainers like L&T , BHEL, and Axis Bank also weighed on the market sentiment.

Selling was seen mostly across-the-board but shares like Cipla, Coal India, GAIL, Tata Motors , ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Power, Tata Steel, SBI and Bharti Airtel logged gains, thereby cushioning the fall to some extent.

Out of the 30-share Sensex, 16 stocks closed with losses while 14 others finished higher.

"Midcaps and small caps continued to attract buying.

Recovery in global markets and easing crude oil prices further boosted market sentiment, but limited upsides due to profit booking and indecision at higher levels," said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio.

The mood seems to be cautious as participants were seen keeping positions restricted in view of the hearing of coal blocks allocation case in the Supreme Court, brokers said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,162.98 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Sectorally, the BSE Realty sector index suffered the most by losing 1.11 per cent, followed by IT index 0.82 per cent, Oil & gas index 0.49 per cent, Capital Goods index 0.43 per cent and Banking index 0.21 per cent.

Bucking the trend, Consumer Durables index rose 1.75 per cent, FMCG index 0.86 per cent and Power index 0.59 per cent.

Globally, trend in other Asian markets remained mixed and the European markets were weak in opening trade.