Sensex down 133 pts, logs worst weekly drop in 2 months

Slipping for the sixth straight day, the benchmark Sensex today fell by 133.06 points and logged its worst weekly drop in nearly two months on weak bluechip earnings coupled with caution ahead of Delhi assembly polls.

Selling was seen in sectors like auto, healthcare, banking, power, oil & gas and consumer durable shares.

After opening in the positive zone at 28,892.21 points at the outset, the Sensex was volatile and then fell to day's low of 28,647.14. It settled at 28,717.91, down 133.06 points or 0.46 per cent. In six straight sessions, the BSE index has plunged by 963.86 points or 3.24 per cent.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex lost 465.04 points. This is its biggest weekly drop since the week ending December 12, 2014 when it had plunged by 1,107.42 points.

"Below-expected quarterly numbers were largely responsible...PSU bank numbers raised concerns over their asset quality. Tata Motors' results also failed to meet expectations.

Markets will focus on the outcome of Delhi assembly elections, remaining quarterly numbers and the Union Budget," said Kotak Securities, Head-Private Client Group Research, Dipen Shah.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty slipped 50.65 points, or 0.58 per cent, to close below 8,700 mark at 8,661.05. It hovered between 8,645.55 and 8,726.20 intra-day.

Major losers that pulled down benchmark indices include Tata Motors, BHEL, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, M&M, Hero Motocorp, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Power, CIL, ONGC, RIL and Cipla.

Sectorwise indices, the BSE Auto index suffered the most by losing 2.77 per cent, followed by Healthcare (1.72 per cent), Bankex (1.27 per cent), Power index (1.25 per cent), Oil and Gas index (1.09 per cent). Stocks from Consumer Durables, Metal, Capital Goods and Realty also fell.

Globally, Asian stock markets were trading mixed in early trade ahead of the closely-watched US jobs report while apprehension about Greece's bailout programme also weighed.

Besides, Foreign Portfolio Investors sold shares worth a net Rs 27.43 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.