Markets take a breather, Sensex down 47 points on profit-booking

Mumbai: Stock markets took a breather on Friday with benchmark Sensex falling about 47 points in volatile trade, retreating from record highs, as investors booked profits in banking, metal and capital goods sector stocks.

After remaining positive in early trade, the Sensex touched the day's high of 27,980.93. However, investors took some profits off the table at near record levels which pushed the BSE index to day's low of 27,739.56.

A round of buying at the fag-end helped to trim losses. The Sensex settled with a loss of 47.25 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 27,868.63. Among Sensex components, 21 stocks including BHEL, GAIL, Coal India, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel and Hindalco fell.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the 30-share Sensex had ended at its all-time closing high of 27,915.88 after touching an intra-day record high of 28,010.39.

Continued foreign fund inflows on government's reform push amid hopes of a rate cut by the RBI had fuelled the rally. Likewise, the 50-scrip NSE barometer Nifty, which had gained 14.15 points in the previous session, fell 1.30 points, or 0.02 per cent, to close at 8,337.00.

During Friday's session, it dipped below the 8300-mark to touch a low of 8,290.25. It had closed at an all-time high of 8,338.30 and recorded lifetime intra-day high of 8,365.55 on Wednesday.

Banking sector stocks saw a round of selling after remaining outperformers in the recent rally. Major losers were SBI and HDFC Bank. Bucking the overall trend, shares in healthcare, realty, consumer durables and IT sectors continued their upward march.

Shares of DLF rose over 6 per cent after the Securities Appellate Tribunal allowed the realty giant to redeem mutual funds worth Rs 1,806 crore. Traders said market was in an over-bought position and participants preferred to lock gains at lifetime highs.

Sectorally, the BSE Metal index suffered the most by losing 1.27 per cent, followed by Capital Goods 0.72 per cent, Power by 0.65 per cent and Auto 0.46 per cent among others. Globally, there was a mixed closing in Asian markets while Europe saw a higher opening.

All eyes are now on the US monthly jobs report. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,030.85 crores on Wednesday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.