Sensex down 214 points

The 30-share index Sensex remained weak for most part of the day and closed sharply lower by 213.84 points at 17,009.17. Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 50.85 points to 5,063,60. In the 30-BSE index-linked stocks, 24 fell to close with losses while six ended higher.

Marketmen said that a weak trend in Asian region and a lower opening of European stock markets partly influenced trading sentiment.

They added that the banking and interest-linked sector stocks were major losers on fears that the Reserve Bank of India might signal interest rate hike in its policy meeting on October 27.

State Bank lost 3.24 per cent to Rs 2,385.30. ICICI Bank Ltd, the second-biggest, declined 1.62 per cent to Rs 928.95. Housing Development Finance Corp, the biggest mortgage lender, fell 3.07 per cent to Rs 2,692.20. Asian indices today finished lower by about 0.67 per cent on sluggish trend on Wall Street yesterday. European markets such as France and  Germany were trading lower in their afternoon trade.

Investors’ concern

Market participants were concerned by the sale of shares worth over Rs 32,000 crore to institutional investors by the Indian firms in over six months that might suck liquidity from the secondary market.

The auto sector index declined by 2.36 per cent to 6,496.46 as market players felt that any change in the interest rates might hamper sale of cars and scooters. The fast moving consumer goods sector index lost 2.06 per cent to 2,715.97. The banking index fell by 2 per cent to 10,309.98, metal index by 1.69 per cent to 15,642.00, healthcare index by 1.38 per cent to 4,377.28, consumer d urable index by 1.22 per cent to 3,718.78 and oils and gas index by 0.58 per cent to 10,450.35.

Realty, teck and Information Technology sector index gained moderate ground.
The software exporting company stocks edged up after the dollar gained against the Indian rupee. Over 50 per cent of the revenues of domesstic software companies come from the US markets.

The rupee weakened 0.5 per cent, the most since September 14, to Rs 46.45 per dollar.