Hit by heavy selling in last hour of trade, the BSE benchmark Sensex today fell for the first time in five days losing 239 points to close at a one-week low of 18,801.64 on concerns over corporate earnings, renewed fears of early general elections and a weak global trend.
The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share Sensex resumed lower at 19,034.00. After trading in a narrow 100-point band, heavy selling in RIL, L&T, ICICI Bank, Bharti and the auto pack dragged the Sensex into negative zone.
It finally ended at 18,801.64, a loss of 239.31 points or 1.26 per cent, snapping the Sensex's four-day long winning run where it gained 359.53 points. This is Sensex's lowest close since 18,704.53 on March 26.
Similarly, the NSE 50-share Nifty also plunged by 75.20 points or 1.31 per cent to end at 5,672.90. Across the markets, investor wealth amounting to Rs 66,000 crore was eroded by today's fall in stocks.
Brokers said the market has been lacking positive triggers while reports of lower quarterly earnings by companies in the fourth quarter sparked selling.
Sanjeev Zarbade, Vice President, Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities said: "Sensex came under severe selling pressure especially in the last hour of the session. Likely reasons for the market fall could be speculation about early general elections and weak macroeconomic datapoints."
Realty, capital goods, auto and metal shares were among the worst performers, while pharma and FMCG shares managed to close in the positive zone.
Automakers lead falls on concern over slowing vehicle sales and the sectoral index dropped 2.23 per cent led by stocks of Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki. Bharti Airtel, the biggest mobile-phone services provider, fell by 3.95 percent.
Besides the country's private sector output for the month of March witnessing the slowest pace of expansion in 17 months, the sentiment further dampened on weak trend in Asia and lower opening in Europe, traders said.
