Sensex slips into negative zone again

The Sensex was down by 18.02 points at 13,879.39 shortly before the midesession.

After gaining nearly 150 points in early trade, the benchmark Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday lost steam and fell below the 14,000 mark following profit-booking by funds and general investors.

HT Image

The Sensex was down by 18.02 points at 13,879.39 shortly before the midesession. The key index had risen to 14,046.52 in early trading.

Stocks that dragged the Sensex down were Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's Lab, ACC, ITC, Hindustan Lever, Tata Consultancy, Gujarat Ambuja and Grasim Industries.

However, stocks like Infosys Technologies, Larsen and Toubro, Maruti Udyog, Bajaj Auto and ONGC remained firm on persistent buying.