Sensex drops 85 points on profit booking

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell by 85 points in early session today as power, PSU, metal and oil & gas, FMCG and banking stocks retreated after participants booked profits.

The 30-share index fell by 85.12 points or 0.25 % to 33,639.32 in early trading. The gauge had garnered 964 points in the previous eight sessions.

The broader Nifty of NSE dropped by 17.30 points or 0.17 % to 10,382.25.

Apart from profit booking by participants in recent gainers, sustained foreign fund outflows dampened the sentiment, brokers said.

NTPC, ONGC, Power Grid, ICICI Bank, ITC Ltd, L&T, Dr Reddy's, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, SBI and Coal India fell up to 1.67 %.

Meanwhile, foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 424.77 crore yesterday, the provisional exchange data showed.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.17 %, while Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.49 % and Hong Kong's Hang fell 0.65 % in early deals.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.10 % higher yesterday.