*Sensex falls over 160 pts in early trade; Nifty slips below 17,900*
The Sensex fell more than 160 points in early trade on Thursday, mirroring losses in index-majors Infosys, HCL Tech, and Reliance Industries, despite continued foreign investment inflows and a mixed trend in Asian rivals. In early trade, the BSE index was down 164.47 points, or 0.27 percent, at 59,934.35. Similarly, the Nifty dropped 52.45 points (0.29%) to 17,885.95. With a loss of 1.13 percent, Infosys led the Sensex pack, followed by Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Reliance Industries, Wipro, HDFC, and TCS. PowerGrid, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, and Axis Bank, on the other hand, were among the laggards. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 656.04 points, or 1.08 percent, to 61,308.91 in the previous session. The Nifty fell 174.65 points, or 0.96 percent, to settle at 17,938.40 on the NSE. In other Asian markets, bourses in Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo were all up in mid-session deals, while Shanghai was down. In the overnight session, stock exchanges in the United States closed on a negative note. Meanwhile, Brent crude, the international oil standard, fell 0.26 percent to USD 88.21 per barrel. According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, selling shares worth Rs 2,704.77 crore.
