Sensex falls most in three weeks, dips 246 points

The BSE Sensex fell a little more than one per cent on Thursday to mark a third day of declines since hitting a record high at the start of the week as Tata Motors slumped after saying its Jaguar Land Rover unit would increase capital spending.

Rate-sensitive stocks such as ICICI Bank also fell on caution ahead of retail inflation data later in the day, which will be followed by wholesale inflation on Monday and is seen as key for the central bank's policy review on December 18.

Tackling inflation will be a priority, the finance minister and Reserve Bank of India governor said on Wednesday, after high prices contributed to painful losses for the ruling Congress party in state elections. Despite the fall, the sentiment remains that of 'buy on dips' on hopes the domestic economy is looking at a trough and on continued foreign investor flows which crossed the Rs 1-lakh-crore mark earlier this week.

The Sensex fell 1.2 per cent, or 245.80 points, to end at 20,925.61, its lowest close since December 4. The Nifty fell 1.1 per cent, or 70.85 points, to end at 6,237.05, closing below the psychologically important 6,300 level. Both indexes also marked their biggest single-day fall since November 21.