Sensex down 75 points in late morning deals

Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex was trading down by 75.30 points in late morning deals on profit-booking in key frontline shares of IT, metal, auto, FMCG, financials and banks amid lower Asian cues.

Market sentiment was downbeat after Standard & Poor's kept India's sovereign rating unchanged, triggering profit booking ahead of November F&O expiry this week. Buying was witnessed in realty, consumer durables, capital goods and industrial sectors.

The 30-share BSE index was down 75.30 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 33,603.94. The broader NSE Nifty declined by 31.10 points or 0.30 per cent to 10,358.60.

Major losers were Adani ports 1.44 per cent, Infosys 1.25 per cent, HUL 1.12 per cent, PowerGrid 1.11 per cent and Asian Paint 0.95 per cent. Gainers include Axis Bank 2.06, NTPC 1.44 per cent and ONGC 1.02 per cent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 416.28 crore last Friday, as per provisional data. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth a net Rs 427.63 crore.

Asian stocks gave back earlier modest gains and fell back from a decade high weighed by weakness in the Chinese and South Korean markets.

In US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished at all- time highs last Friday, as retailers were in focus amid the Black Friday shopping holiday, a day after domestic markets were closed in observance of Thanksgiving.