Sensex tumbles to over 1-month low as rupee slide continues

The BSE Sensex extended its freefall to the sixth session in a row, slipping by 209 points to over one-month low, as rupee approached the 64-mark against dollar.

The 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange dropped by 209.05 points, or 1.02 per cent, to 20,281.91, a level last seen on October 10.

The Sensex has now lost close to 1,000 points in six trading days after its record closing high of 21,239.36 on Diwali.

On similar lines, the 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 60.75 points, or one per cent, to 6,018.05 dragged by stocks of metal, power and banking sectors.

Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed 93.76 points down at 12,086.48.

Brokers said the selling pressure gathered momentum as rupee continued to slide and hit an intra-day low of 63.83, fanning fears of rise in inflation which may compel the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hike interest rates further.

Car sales, often considered by investors as a signal of consumer sentiment, also gave little cheer with domestic sales declining by 3.88 per cent in October.

"Investors opted to book profits ahead of IIP and inflation data. Rupee too showed weakness against dollar. European markets opened lower and further dampened sentiment," said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio.

Twenty-six of the 30 Sensex stocks declined led by Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, RIL, HDFC Bank, HDFC, L&T, Infosys, SBI, Sesa Sterlite, ONGC, TCS, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp.

Sectorally, the metal sector index suffered the most by losing 1.80 per cent, followed by power index (1.75 per cent), Banking index (1.62 per cent) and auto index (1.62 per cent).

With inputs from PTI