The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today tumbled by 189 points with investors booking profit a day after market witnessed a 561-point rally.
The 30-share barometer fell by 189.02 to 17,141.53 points. The Sensex had gained 561 points in the last session.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 57.45 to 5,136.15 points.
Brokers said fund-based selling in heavyweight stocks of Reliance Industries, Infosys and Reliance Infrastructure pulled down the market.
Investors speculated that yesterday’s biggest one-day advance in 10 months may have exceeded the outlook for earnings, they added.
Market leader Reliance Industries fell by Rs 13 to Rs 1,067.20 and the second heaviest Infosys by Rs 11.95 to Rs 2,663.15. The two carry nearly 23 per cent weightage on the Sensex.
Stocks of Reliance Infrastructure declined Rs 52.70 to Rs 1,010.15 after surging 8.8 per cent yesterday, and Tata Steel by Rs 19.90 to Rs 581.85. The stock climbed the most in 11 months in previous session.
Among 30 Sensex components, 28 stocks closed with losses.
All sectoral indices closed in the red.
A weak Asian trend and lower opening in Europe after international rating agency Moody’s Investors Service in an unusual move regarding its sovereign ratings process said it may downgrade on Portugal and Greece to junk, also impacted the sentiment, brokers said.
The metal index fell the most losing 2.57 per cent to 16,494.26 points, followed by the realty sector index which dipped 2.43 per cent to 3,271.97 points.
The healthcare index fell by 1.59 per cent to 5,217.34, power index by 1.59 per cent to 3,037.39 and teck index by 1.40 per cent to 3,211.18.
As the selling pressure spread over a wide-front, midcap sector index fell by 0.99 per cent to 6,928.53 and the smallcap index by 0.85 per cent to 8,872.42.
