Sensex falls 41 points in early trade today

Mumbai: Snapping its record-setting spree, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 41 points in early trade today as participants locked-in gains at current levels amid disappointing quarterly earnings.

Besides, absence of cues too negatively impacted trading sentiments as most of other Asian markets are shut.

The 30-share barometer retreated from its record closing by losing 41.24 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 31,068.04.

The gauge had rallied by 807.64 points in the previous three straight sessions.

Yesterday, the gauge had closed at a fresh lifetime peak of 31,109.28 after climbing to a new intra-day record high of 31,214.39.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also slipped from record-high and shed 23.70 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 9,581.20. It closed at an all-time high of 9,604.90 after recording a new intra-day peak of 9,637.75 in yesterday's trade.

Brokers said emergence of profit-booking by investors in recent gainers at record levels amid continued foreign fund outflows and muted earnings posted by some bluechip companies mainly pulled down the key indices from their peaks.

Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 709.97 crore, while Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares to the tune of Rs 290.53 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.54 per cent in early trade. Hong Kong and Chinese markets are shut today. The US markets also remained closed yesterday.