Mumbai, May 29 (IANS): Weak global cues and profit booking by investors depressed the key equity indices on Tuesday.
Investors booked profits after the indices closed on a positive note on Monday for the third consecutive session.
According to market analysts, heavy selling pressure was witnessed on banking, consumer durables and healthcare indices.
However, healthy buying in the capital goods, auto and oil and gas stocks arrested further decline, they said.
At 1.18 p.m., the broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded at 10,656.15 points -- down by 32.50 points or 0.30 per cent -- from its previous close of 10,688.65 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), which had opened at 35,213.14 points, traded at 35,029.32 points (1.18 p.m.) -- lower by 136.16 points or 0.39 per cent -- from its previous session's close of 35,165.48 points.
The Sensex has so far touched a high of 35,234.14 points and a low of 35,013 points during the intra-day trade. The BSE market breadth tilted towards the bulls with 1,319 declines against 1,169 advances so far.
The major gainers on the BSE were Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Dr Reddy's Lab while ICICI Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Yes Bank, Asian Paints and IndusInd Bank were the major losers.
On the NSE, the top gainers were Gail, Hindustan Petroleum and IOC. The major losers were ICICI Bank, SBI and Bharti Infratel.