Mumbai, July 10 (Reporter) The BSE Sensex on Wednesday dropped 426.87 pts to settle at 79,924.77 on profit booking by local operators amid a mixed trend in the Asian market. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell 108.75 points to 24,324.45. Registering a lifetime high on Tuesday, the BSE sensex opened on a strong note at 80,481.36, up 130 points. It was days high; later, it was nosedived. 916 points at 79,435.76, days low, before closing at 79,924.77, sliding 426.87 points from its previous close. The stocks that dragged the market were Auto by 1.65 pc, Metal by 1.60 pc, IT by 0.99 pc, and BSE Commodities by 0.87 pc. The NSE registered days high and low at 24,461.05 and 24,141.80 points, respectively. In 30 scrips, 9 advanced while 21 declined. The mid cap erased 0.19 pc and the small cap by 0.69 pc. The losers were M&M by 6.62 pc to Rs 2732.10, Tata Steel by 2.21 pc to Rs 168, TCS by 1.85 pc to Rs 3917.90, HCL Technologies by 1.58 pc to Rs 1506.65, and SBI by 1.27 pc to Rs 850. The gainers were Asian Paints by 3.10 pc to Rs 2995.40, Powergrid by 1.53 pc to Rs 346.10, NTPC by 1.22 pc to Rs 381.60, and Adani Ports by 0.71 pc to Rs 1488.45. In the Asian Market, Strait Times were up by 0.98 pc and Taiwan Weighted by 0.45 pc. While Hang Seng fell by 0.30 p.c. and Shanghai Composite by 0.68 p.c...////...