Profit taking drags Sensex down; Re dips 88 paise in 2-day

The BSE Sensex fell 50 points in early trade on account of profit booking after the rally of 181 points in previous session. The Indian rupee, which dropped 54 paise yesterday in late trade, lost another 34 paise in early trade today to trade at 53.75 against the US dollar.

The 30-share BSE benchmark was down 43.17 points to 18,748.76 and the 50-share NSE benchmark declined 13.45 points to 5,705.25.

Bharti Airtel lost another 1.5 percent on Telecom Commission recommendations. TCS fell over 1 percent ahead of second quarter numbers today.

HCL Tech, DLF, State Bank of India, L&T, JP Associates, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and HUL were under pressure.

ITC was flat ahead of September quarter results today. The stock hit an record high yesterday, gaining 1.3 percent.

Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla, Lupin, ACC, Ambuja Cements and Infosys were gainers.

The broader markets were flat as the market breadth was neutral.

In the second line shares, Gujarat NRE Coke shot up 12 percent, Persistent Systems was up 7% and Magma Fincorp gained nearly 8 percent after strong numbers in the quarter ended September 2012. Hindustan Zinc was up 1.4 percent after reporting results above expectations.

Indian Hotels went down 3.5 percent. The company has launched a hostile bid for Orient Express and will invest USD 650 million to acquire the same, which is too high and will put pressure on balance sheet, say experts.

Kingfisher Airlines plunged 4 percent on reports that the company may lose permit if it fails to respond to Directorate General of Civil Aviation show cause notice today.

Fortis Healthcare gained 3 percent. The Economic Times reported that Fortis Trust raised Singapore dollar 510 million on Singapore Stock Exchange by selling 70% stake in its business trust.

Praj Industries slipped 1.2 percent after disappointing numbers.

DB Realty was up 3.5 percent and Dish TV gained 1.5 percent.