Market update: Sensex falls for 5th day, closes 71 points lower

The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) index Sensex, extending its fall for the fifth straight session, closed 71 points lower at 26,724.01 due to selling in auto, FMCG and pharma stocks amid continued capital outflows and weakness in rupee.

The 30-issue BSE barometer opened lower at 26,724.01 on sustained selling in line with a weak trend in global markets.

Brokers said persistent selling by foreign funds and retail investors on concerns like widening trade deficit and free-fall of the rupee, which slumped to a fresh 13-month low of 63.87 (intra-day), dampened sentiments.

The gauge later recovered to touch an intra-day high of 26,871.91 on the back of gains in few bluechips but succumbed to selling at every rise. The Sensex finally settled 71.31 (or 0.27 per cent) down, at 26,710.13 points. The index lost over 1,120.97 points in its previous five sessions.

A series of negative factors like disappointing IIP data, higher trade deficit, global growth concerns after crude fell to fresh multi-year lows and the Russian crisis triggered selling by participants on the bourses, brokers said.

Weak trends in European markets ahead of the outcome of a crucial United States Federal Reserve meeting dampened trading sentiments in the domestic market, brokers added.

The broader 50-share National Stock exchange (NSE) index Nifty slipped below the 8,000-mark before closing 37.80 points (or 0.46 per cent) lower at 8,029.80. The Nifty shuttled between 7,961.35 and 8,082 intra-day.

Losses in shares of Cipla, Hero MotoCorp, ITC Ltd, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Tata Power, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, M&M, L&T, BHEL, NTPC, HDFC Bank and Hind Unilever, dragged down the key index.

Bucking the trend, stocks of RIL, GAIL, Sesa Sterlite, ONGC, SBI and ICICI Bank ended in the positive zone.

Selling pressure in small- and mid-cap stocks also pulled down the Small-cap index by 1.06 per cent and Mid-cap index by 0.60 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,247.24 crore on Tuesday.