The benchmark BSE Sensex stretched its losses for the fourth straight day on Friday, falling over 84 points in early trade on sustained selling by participants, triggered by weak domestic as well as global cues.
The 30-share index declined 84.16 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 26,729.26.
The gauge had lost 1,035.57 points in the previous three consecutive sessions after RBI took a cautious stance on the economic recovery and fears of a drought after the Met department downgraded 2015 monsoon forecast to “deficient”.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty slipped 28.95 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 8,101.70.
Major losers that dragged down the indices were realty, FMCG, banking, auto, IT, consumer durables and power sector stocks.
Nestle India continued its slide for yet another session and was trading down 3.28 per cent at Rs. 5,813.60 after the company decided to take Maggi off the shelves following a controversy over its contents, prompting several states to ban the ‘two-minute’ noodles.
Brokers said sentiment remained weak as investors engaged in selling activity amid absence of any positive domestic as well as global cues.
Besides, overnight losses in U.S. markets after the IMF slashed its forecast for U.S. growth this year to 2.5 per cent from a previous estimate of 3.1 per cent hurt sentiment, they added.
In other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.46 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.44 per cent in early trade on Friday.
The U.S. Dow Jones ended 0.94 per cent lower in Thursday’s trade.
