The benchmark BSE Sensex pared its early gains to drift lower by 135.33 points in late morning deals on selling in key blue-chips stocks IT, Teck, telecom, banks and oil&gas.
Participants traded caution ahead of key macro numbers of Industrial Production (IIP) for December and (CPI) Inflation data to be released later in the day and quarterly earnings IT major TCS.
The BSE Sensex opened higher at 24,862.93 and moved between 24,882.30 and 24,654.97. It was quoting 24,689.71 at 1100 hrs, down 135.33 points or 0.55 per cent.
The 50-share Nifty also dropped by 50.25 points or 0.66 per cent to 7,513.60 at 1100 hours.
Major losers were Axis Bank 2.41 per cent, ONGC 2.32 per cent, Infosys 1.50 per cent, Dr Reddy’s 1.34 per cent, TCS 1.31 per cent, Tata Motors 1.26 per cent and Hero MotoCorp by 1.25 per cent.
Meanwhile, foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 1,319.24 crore on Monday as per provisional data.
In overseas, most Asian markets trading higher as the Chinese yuan stabilised for a third straight day.
While the US stocks eked out small gains Monday after dipping in and out of negative territory as a deepening rout in oil prices hit the energy sector on the heels of the worst weekly start ever to a new year.
