The BSE Sensex snapped its
five-day winning run, plunging by 265 points - its biggest drop in over a month - as investors booked profits in bluechips after the recent upsurge took the index to all-time high.
In the previous five sessions, the 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange had risen by 669 points. Tuesday's fall in absolute terms is the worst since September 30 when it had dropped by 347.50 points.
The Sensex, which had ended at record closing of 21,239.36 in the
special Diwali Muhurat trading on Sunday, fell sharply by 264.57 points, or 1.25 per cent, to close at 20,974.79, led by fall in stocks of FMCG, Healthcare and IT sectors.
Brokers said a weakening trend in Asia and lower opening in Europe on growth concerns further fuelled the selling pressure in export-oriented domestic stocks.
The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty also
slipped from its record closing high by losing 64.20 points, or 1.02 per cent to 6,253.15. On Sunday's special session, it had closed at record 6,317.35.
SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed at 12,494.1, down 105.43 points or 0.84 per cent.
"Profit booking after
several sessions of gains led to the fall. Global indices were also trading on a cautious note," said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.
In the Sensex pack, 22 stocks declined while just eight gained. The major losers were Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, TCS, BHEL, GAIL India, HUL, ICICI Bank, Infosys, ITC, Jindal Steel and L&T.
Sectorally, the BSE FMCG sector suffered the most by losing 2.53 per cent, followed by BSE Healthcare index by 1.55 per cent, BSE IT sector index by 1.28 per cent and BSE TECK index by 1.25 per cent.
With inputs from PTI
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