IT, bank stocks drag Sensex lower

In volatile trading, the BSESensex on Wednesday fell 75 points to 19,612 on profit selling, as rising oilprices fuelled investor concerns that inflation and hike in interest ratescould hit corporate earnings.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange index, Sensex, which had lost 15 points onMonday, fell further by 74.62 points to 19,612.20, after touching the day'shigh of 19,811.14.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell 18.30 to 5,891.75, after movingbetween 5,944.45 and 5,868.80

Brokers said investors expected inflationary pressure to continue in view ofhigh crude oil prices and consumer demand, which would lead to further hike ininterest rates.

On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Indiaindicated that easy money policy was a distant reality in the face ofpersistently rising prices. RBI has increased benchmark lending rates eighttimes in the last one year and had raised inflation forecast.

Besides, they said market was witnessing profit-booking, although in a limitedway, after the recent long rally of nearly 11 per cent in March.

A mixed pattern of trading in Asia and higher openings in Europecapped the losses to some extent.

The downward pressure was led by stocks in teck, IT, banking and metal sectors.The banking index fell 0.43 per cent to 13,351.89 as HDFC Bank dropped the mostin a month.

The Teck sector index suffered the most by losing 0.84 per cent to 3,908.86,followed by IT sector index - down 0.69 per cent to 6,652.26. The metal indexlost 0.41 per cent to 16,645.07.

Reliance Industries, with heaviest weight on the Sensex fell by Rs 1.10 to Rs1,043.85 and the second heaviest, Infosys Technologies, by Rs 8.90 to Rs3,270.60. The two carry nearly 23 per cent weightage in the index.

Mahindra and Mahindra declined Rs 6.80 to RS 725.95 and Maruti Suzuki by Rs18.35 to Rs 1,294.65 after the companies announced price hikes.