Mumbai: Falling for the fifth straight day, the benchmark Sensex on February 5 reversed gains in the last ninety minutes and ended 32.14 points lower at 28,850.97, its weakest level in over two weeks, on sharp selling in power, realty and consumer durable shares amid weak global cues.
After opening in the positive zone at 28,912.38 points at the outset, the Sensex was almost flat and then climbed higher in the afternoon to touch the day's high of 29,277.83 — up almost 395 points.
However, profit-booking pulled down the BSE Sensex to day's low of 28,753.29 and finally settled at 28,850.97, down 32.14 points or 0.11 per cent. In five sessions, it has plunged 830.80 points or about 2.8 per cent.
Thursday's close is its weakest since 28,784.67 on January 20, 2015. Similarly, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty slipped by 12 points, or 0.14 per cent, to close at 8,711.70. It hovered between 8,683.65 and 8,838.45 intra-day.
Major losers that pulled down indices include Tata Power, Sesa Sterlite, BHEL, ONGC, M&M, Cipla, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, GAIL and Hindalco. Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddys, SBI, RIL, Tata Motors, L&T, Bajaj Auto and Sun Pharma also ended in the red.
Sectorwise indices, the BSE Power index suffered the most by losing 2.80 per cent, followed by Realty (2.74 per cent), Consumer Durable index (2.25 per cent), Metal index (1.90 per cent), Oil and Gas index (1.15 per cent).
Stocks from Healthcare, Capital Goods, Auto and Banking also fell. On the other hand, IT stocks like TCS, Wipro and Infosys rose after rival Cognizant forecast higher revenue growth. Among overseas markets, Asian stocks was mixed and weak opening in European market after reports said the European Central Bank yesterday cancelled its acceptance of Greece's bonds in return for funding. Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors sold shares worth net Rs 83.80 crore February 4.
