Sensex falls below 26,000-mark in early trade on profit-booking, weak Asian cues

The benchmark BSE Sensex gave up over 122 points to fall below the 26,000-level in early trade on Wednesday due to profit-booking by investors and weak Asian cues.

Caution ahead of an expiry of April series contracts in the derivatives segment on Thursday influenced the sentiment.

The 30-share barometer Sensex was down by 122.06 points, or 0.46%, to 25,885.24 in early trade, with sectoral indices led by banking, power, and healthcare trading lower.

At 10:10 hours, the Sensex was trading up by 32.31 points, or 0.12%, to  26,039.61 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The index had risen 328 points on Tuesday, tracking a recovery in global stocks and oil prices.

The NSE Nifty dropped by 22.10 points, or 0.27%, to 7,940.55.  At 10:10 hours, the Nifty was trading up 18.55 points, or 0.23%, to 7,981.20 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). 

Brokers said apart from profit-booking, a weak trend in Asia amid caution ahead of a closely-watched the US Federal Reserve policy announcement later in the day and the start of Bank of Japan (BOJ) policy meeting mainly pulled the indices down.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.59% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.31% in early trade on Wednesday. The Shanghai Composite Index was quoting almost flat.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.07% higher in Tuesday's trade.