Sensex falls 104 points on F&O expiry, Asian cues

The stock market stayed weak for the third straight session as the benchmark Sensex fell nearly 104 points and the NSE Nifty broke below the 8600-mark today, with participants liquidating bets in view of October derivatives expiry.

Besides, weak Asian cues following a slide in oil prices weighed on sentiment, brokers said.

The 30-share index was trading lower by 103.69 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 27,732.82. The gauge had lost 342.57 points in the previous two sessions.

Sectoral indices led by IT, power, auto, technology and metal trading in the red, falling by up to 0.62 per cent.

The NSE Nifty fell 32.15 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 8,583.10 in early trade.

Offloading of positions by participants with today being the last trading session of October series contracts in the derivatives segment and a weak trend in global markets dampened sentiment here.

Shares of FMCG major Hindustan Unilever fell by 0.87 per cent to Rs 835.50 even as the company yesterday posted an 11.54 per cent rise in its standalone net profit at Rs 1,095.6 crore for the September quarter.

Shares of two—wheeler market leader Hero MotoCorp were trading 0.78 per cent lower at Rs 3,395 despite the company yesterday reported a 27.74 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 1,004.22 crore for the second quarter ended September.

Major losers were Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, Wipro, SBI, Lupin, TCS, Axis Bank, L&T and Power Grid, falling by up to 3.02 per cent.

Among other Asian markets,Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.33 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei was down by 0.29 per cent in early trade today. The Shanghai Composite Index too inched lower by 0.24 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.17 per cent higher yesterday.