Domestic investors were cautious ahead of RBI’s monetary policy meet as the market benchmark Sensex retreated from a record close by falling about 122 points in early trade today while Asian cues were muted on overnight losses in the US.
The 30-share index, which had gained 353.74 points in the previous three sessions, was trading 121.94 points or 0.40 per cent lower at 29,852.30 with FMCG, banking, healthcare, metal and oil&gas sectors leading the fall.
The NSE Nifty was also down by 38.25 points or 0.42 percent at 9,225.90.
Brokers said besides a weak trend in global markets after Federal Reserve meeting minutes suggested the US central bank was considering tightening monetary policy, caution ahead of Reserve Bank’s monetary policy to be announced later in the day influenced the sentiment.
Bucking the trend, stocks of Bajaj Auto, Infosys, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, GAIL, NTPC and NTPC were trending higher by up to 1.55 per cent as investors engaged in widening their bets.
RIL too was higher by 0.71 per cent at Rs 1,424.95.
Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was down 1.40 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.49 per cent in early trade. Shanghai Composite Index, however, marginally up.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.20 per cent lower in yesterday’s trade.