JOIN USA fall in realty, FMCG, IT and auto stocks mainly led the fall while good buying support in refinery and consumer durables shares softened the Sensex slide.
The below normal monsoon and swine flu continued to daunt market sentiment, a broker said. In volatile trade, the BSE 30-share barometer swung between 15,535.47 and 15,367.61 before concluding the day at 15,411.63, a fall of 106.86 points or 0.69 per cent against its previous close. On Thursday, the Sensex ended higher by 498.33 points or 3.32 per cent, a level of gain not seen since May 27, 2009.
The broader 50-share Nifty of the NSE also fell 24.95 points or 0.54 per cent to 4,580.05 from its last close.
After the recent heavy sell-off, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers of equity of Rs 630.94 crore on August 13 while domestic institutional investors continued their buying spree and they picked up shares worth Rs 182.85 crore, as per provisional data.
Although the Sensex ended in the red, the total market breadth was positive as 1,417 counters ended with gains while 1,354 that finished with losses on the BSE as some second-line counters attracted good buying.