Sensex tumbles 186 pts on inflation concerns after petrol price hike

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday fell over 186 points on heavy selling after a steep hike in fuel prices raised inflationary concerns amid weakening global trend.

The 30-share index closed lower by 186.25 points at 18,345.03 points, as oil companies hiked petrol prices by Rs 5 per litre, the most since June 2008.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 45.75 points to close at 5,499 points as realty, banks, metal and auto stocks suffered major losses.

A weakening trend in the Asian region and lower opening in Europe further fuelled the down-trend.

Brokers said already under pressure, markets received another blow following a petrol price hike and fears of hike in diesel and cooking gas prices in ministerial meeting next week.

Also, a less-than-expected fall in inflation for the month of April fanned concern of more rise in interest rates, they said. Inflation was at 8.66 per cent in April against 9.04 per cent in March, official data released on Monday said.

Mahindra and Mahindra fell 2.71 per cent to Rs 673.15, Bajaj Auto by 2.72 per cent to Rs 1,300.85 and Tata Motors by 0.23 per cent to Rs 1,208.15 as Indian Oil Corp raised the price of gasoline by 8.5 per cent.

The banking sector index fell 1.18 per cent to 12,441.84 as State Bank of India dropped 1.20 per cent to Rs 2,617.30 and ICICI Bank 1.70 per cent to Rs 1,057.45.

The realty sector index suffered the most by losing 1.47 per cent to 2,145.61, as DLF Ltd plunged 2.58 per cent to Rs 226.20, Jaiprakash Associates by 3.20 per cent to Rs 84.75 and Reliance Infrastructure by 2.10 per cent to Rs 598.10.

The two most-heaviest on the Sensex with their 23 per cent weightage, Reliance Industries and Infosys declined too. RIL fell 0.46 per cent to Rs 944.30 and Infosys 1.05 per cent to Rs 2,849.75.

As the selling pressure spread over a broader front, midcap sector index lost 0.77 per cent to 6,849.59 and smallcap index 0.74 per cent to 8,306.55.