Mumbai, Jun 20 (PTI): The BSE Sensex slipped from record highs to close down by over 14 points today on profit booking in recent gainers as investors turned cautious apprehending early glitches in GST rollout amid mixed global cues.

The BSE 30-share barometer, after charting the positive terrain for the better part of the session, touched a high of 31,392.53, but slipped to 31,261.49 in late afternoon deals on across-the-board profit booking, especially in power, banking and FMCG counters.

The index finally settled at 31,297.53 points, down 14.04 points, or 0.04 per cent, over the previous close.

The gauge had rallied 255.17 points in the previous session to an all-time closing high of 31,311.57.

In highly volatile movements, the broader Nifty too shed 4.05 points, or 0.04 per cent, to close at 9,653.50 after shuttling between 9,676.50 and 9,643.75 during the day.

"The fear onnear term disruptions on account of GST rollout is making investors to stay cautious. The true impact will be known only when the new procedure starts, it could have some hiccups in the supply chain, changes in inventory/revenue and inflationary impact. Consequently, FIIs remains sellers in the market while active DIIs are keeping the overall environment positive,” says Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

Brokers said investors turned cautious and preferred to lighten their positions, particularly in banking sector stocks following the waiver of farm loans by Punjab.

Banking stocks came under heavy selling pressure after the Punjab government yesterday announced farm loan waiver for small and marginal farmers, which is likely to impact the PSU sector banks.

Central Bank of India fell 2.74 per cent, Punjab National Bank 2.31 per cent, Axis Bank 1.35 per cent, Bank of Baroda 0.60 per cent, HDFC Bank 0.55 per cent, Kotak Bank 0.55 per cent, Oriental Bank of Commerce 0.87 per cent, Andhra Bank 0.51 per cent, UCO Bank 1.57 per cent, IDBI Bank 1.58 per cent and Canara Bank 0.93 per cent which pulled down the BSE banking index by 0.16 per cent.

However, state-run SBI bucked the trend and rose 0.52 per cent.

Tata Motors was up 3.28 per cent on media reports that Tata Group may be considering listing its luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover through an initial public offer.

Weakness in some of the heavyweights in the 30-Sensex kitty like PowerGrid, Lupin, HDFC Ltd, Bajaj Auto, ITC Ltd, Maruti Suzuki, L&T, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Asian Paint, fell by up 2 per cent and dragged the benchmark Sensex down from record highs.

However, gains in Tata Motors DVR, ONGC, Infosys, Cipla and Tata Steel, cushioned the fall.

Sectorwise, the BSE power index fell the most by losing 0.21 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.16 per cent and PSU 0.03 per cent.

While, IT, consumer durables, oil&gas, realty, metal, healthcare and auto ended in positive zone.
The broader markets outperformed the key indices with the mid-cap index rising 0.19 per cent and small-cap gained 0.16 per cent as investors were seen widening their portfolios.

Meanwhile, FIIs sold shares worth Rs 250.39 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares to the tune of Rs 529.90 crore in yesterday's trade, as per provisional data.

Globally, other key indices in Asia such as Japan's Nikkei rose 0.81 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.31 per cent and Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.14 per cent.

In the Euro zone, Paris, London and Feranfurt stock exchanges were up in early session.