Sensex hits one-week low

The BSE Sensex tumbled for a second consecutive session on Tuesday hitting its lowest close in a week as recent outperforming blue-chips such as ITC fell on doubts about whether foreign investors will continue their strong buying so far.

These doubts come as Asian shares were largely subdued ahead of Wednesday's release of minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting and chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony in Congress the same day.

While domestic institutional selling may continue for a while, foreign investors won't turn major sellers, added Chokkalingam.

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell 0.56 per cent, or 112.37 points, to end at 20,111.61, marking its lowest close since May 14.

The broader Nifty fell 0.7 per cent, or 42.80 points, to end at 6,114.10.

Among blue-chips, ITC fell 1.1 per cent, marking its fourth day of declines.

Auto makers also fell after recent gains. Tata Motors lost three per cent, marking its lowest close since May 6, while Maruti Suzuki India fell 2.6 per cent after hitting its all-time high of 1,774.40 rupees on Monday.

Divi's Laboratories slumped seven per cent after its March-quarter profit fell 16.6 per cent, lagging analysts estimates.

Shares in Voltas also fell 3.4 per cent after its January-March net profit declined 91.4 per cent to Rs 8.92 crore.

However, technology companies rose as recent falls in the rupee are making the sector more attractive and offsetting some of the worries over a pending US immigration bill that sparked a selloff in the sector last month.

Infosys rose 1.1 per cent, while Tata Consultancy Services Ltd ended 1.4 per cent higher and HCL Technologies gained 1.2 per cent.

Shares in Coal India Ltd gained 2.1 per cent after its board recommended on Monday a higher-than-expected dividend of Rs 4.3 per share for financial year 2012-13.