Sensex falls for 5th day in a volatile trade

In a volatile trade, the BSE benchmark index Sensex surrendered its initial gains to close marginally down by 13.91 points due to profit booking mainly in RIL, Larsen & Toubro and auto stocks today, extending losses for the fifth straight day.

The 30-share index had recovered by over 157 points at the outset and touched a high of 22,575.62 points. Later, it succumbed to profit-booking to settle 13.91 points lower, or 0.06 per cent, at 22,403.89 points.

The 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange fell 1.60 points, or 0.02 per cent, to end at 6,694.80 after touching the day's high of 6,737.65 points.

"Profit-booking and cautious approach ahead of Lok Sabha election results are evident in the market," Nidhi  Saraswat, Senior Research Analyst,Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.

"Almost flat growth in manufacturing PMI in April, as against previous month, also weakened market sentiment," Saraswat added.

Foreign funds were seen trimming their portfolios by booking profits at every rise, brokers said, adding that a subdued opening in the European markets also influenced the sentiment.

Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra fell by up to 1.69 per cent at close on poor April sales numbers.

RIL declined by close to 1 per cent while Larsen & Toubro dropped the most by 2.50 per cent among Sensex scrips. Tata Steel too faced selling pressure and lost 2.46 per cent.

Bucking the trend, IT stocks led by Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro met with value buying and closed with sizeable gains, avoiding any major fall in the Sensex.

In 30-share Sensex, 16 stocks ended in negative zone while 14 settled higher.

The capital goods sector index suffered the most by losing 1.78 per cent to 11,902.84 followed by metal index by 1.41 per cent to 9,840.32. Banking index closed 0.11 per cent lower at 14,690.50.

Auto Index lost 0.51 per cent to 13,303.39 points, while power index shed 0.32 per cent to 1,681.22.