The equity benchmark indices lost ground for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, making it the worst losing streak since May as investor sentiment remained jittery amid selling by foreign investors, weak corporate numbers and the International Monetary Fund cutting India’s growth forecast for 2019-20 to 7% from the earlier 7.3%.
The 30-share Sensex lost 135.09 points, or 0.36%, to close at 37,847.65.
The index has lost a total of 1,368 points in the last five sessions. The losses in the index were primarily led by financials and auto majors like Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Indusind Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, Yes Bank and M&M. Incidentally, the number of declines at 1,642 on BSE was more than double that of gainers at 807.
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The broader Nifty fell 59.75 points or 0.53% to 11,271.30.
“The super-rich tax on FPI has had negative impact while poor quarterly results and below normal monsoon have dampened sentiments,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head — Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Market is likely to remain under pressure due to lack of positive triggers, he added.
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Provisional numbers show that foreign investors sold shares worth nearly ₹1,400 crore on Wednesday. In the current month till date, foreign investors are net sellers at ₹13,471 crore, which is the highest since October last year when they sold shares worth ₹28,921 crore.
Elsewhere in Asia, the benchmarks of Taiwan, Indonesia and South Korea also ended in the red.