Stocks make a muted beginning on F&O expiry

The Sensex made a tepid start and

the Nifty flirted with 9,700 in early session today on

relentless selling by foreign funds.

Offloading of bets -- today being the last trading

session of the September series contracts in the futures and

options (F&O) segment -- made investors go slow.

The 30-share flagship index was down 44.27 points, or

0.14 per cent, at 31,115.54.

The gauge had fallen 1,263.95 points in the previous seven

sessions.

BSE indices led by oil and gas, PSU, consumer durables,

auto, healthcare, metal and bank stocks declined by up to 2.07

per cent.

The 50-share NSE Nifty turned lower by 43.10 points, or

0.44 per cent, at 9,692.65.

A depreciating rupee, which slipped 16 paise to a fresh

six and a half month low of 65.88 against the dollar today,

made traders all the more nervous.

Asian Paints, Adani Ports, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki and

Reliance Industries slid up to 2.42 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng weakened 0.35 per cent while

Shanghai Composite lost 0.24 per cent in early trade. Japan's

Nikkei, however, moved up 0.29 per cent.

US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.55 per cent

higher yesterday.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)