Sensex down 42 pts; posts longest losing run in 4 mths

The benchmark BSE Sensex dropped for the sixth day today to record its longest losing run in four months as foreign funds continued to offload shares on fears that below normal rains will result in higher inflation.

With today's 41.84 points drop, the 30-share barometer has plunged around 1,370 points, or 4.91 per cent, in six days.

The market is on a downward spiral since last Tuesday when Reserve Bank had cut repo rate by 25 bps, despite flagging concerns over economic recovery.

On the same day, the Met department had forecast monsoon to be deficient this year, triggering drought fears.

Falling for the seventh straight day, the broad-based NSE Nifty today fell by 21.75 points or 0.27 per cent at 8,022.40.

Negative sentiment was compounded by China's potential inclusion in the MSCI Emerging Market index that may result in further foreign fund outflows from India.

In volatile movements, Sensex shuttled between 26,438.32 and 26,604.65 during the day and finally ended 41.84 points or 0.16 per cent lower at 26,481.25.
This is the fresh lowest closing in nearly eight months.

In February, the BSE benchmark had fallen for seven days on the trot, when RBI had maintained status quo on interest rates in its monetary policy review on February 3.
With a slump of up to 3.35 per cent, Cipla was the top loser among Sensex and Nifty stocks today.

Bucking the trend, shares of Vedanta topped the gainers by climbing 3.11 per cent amid speculations of Cairn India merging with itself.

Shares of Nestle India, after remaining under pressure for the four straight sessions, emerged surprised winner today trading largely on the back of value-buying and climbed 7.47 per cent to close at Rs 5,953.80.

Sectorwise, BSE realty index suffered the most by falling 1.54 per cent, followed by Healthcare 1.41 per cent, auto 0.73 per cent, IT 0.70 per cent, capital goods 0.35 per cent, Oil&Gas 0.04 per cent and FMCG 0.03 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 749.12 crore yesterday as per provisional data released.

In overseas markets, Asian stocks ended down, while European markets were trading lower in their morning session.