Mumbai: Indian shares dropped for a fourth straight session to trade near two-week lows as the BSE Sensex crashed below the 27,000-level ahead of the monthly derivative contracts expiry and as the US Federal Reserve hinted at a possible interest rate hike in December.


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"Markets opened the day absolutely flat over yesterday?s closing levels and remained sideways in today's session as well amidst lack of market cues," said Achin Goel, Head of Wealth Management and Financial Planning at Bonanza Portfolio.


Among other factors, concerns over corporate earnings so far, the rupee depreciating by 27 paise against the dollar and a lower opening in European markets also weighed.


Shares of banking, power, capital goods, FMCG, metal and refinery sectors on profit-booking.


The BSE 30-share Sensex after resuming in positive zone soon slipped as participants indulged in squaring-up long positions. The index finally settled 201.62 points or 0.75 percent down at 26,838.14 -- its lowest closing since October 14.


The gauge has now lost 632.67 points in four sessions.


The 50-issue NSE too continued its slide for the fourth session and lost 59.45 points or 0.73 percent to close at 8,111.75. Intra-day, it dipped below the 8,100-mark to hit a low of 8,098.


Participants were seen offloading their long positions in Futures and Options (F&O) segment instead of carrying them forward to the next series for November month, brokers said.


Weakness in global stocks weighed on sentiment on the domestic bourses. European stocks edged lower in choppy trade after the US Federal Reserve left the door open to an interest rate hike later this calendar year. Key indices like France, Germany and UK were trading lower by 0.10 percent to 1.01 percent.


Asian stocks ended lower after the conclusion of a regular two-day monetary policy review yesterday. Key indices in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Tiwan dropped by 0.41 percent to 1.28 percent while China and Japan ended higher by 0.17 percent to 0.36 percent.


Indian shares remained subdued, tracking global cues, with 22 scrips settling lower from the 30-share Sensex pack.


Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO said: "Local indices continued to slip down further as in the Fed meet officials indicated that the interest rate hike may take place this year, which dented the global equities."


Major BSE losers were BHEL (4.38 percent), Axis Bank (2.81 percent), Sun Pharma (2.36 percent), Coal India (2.30 percent), SBI (2.02 percent), HUL (1.94 percent), ITC (1.41 percent), GAIL (1.37 percent), Hindalco (1.36 percent), NTpercent (1.35 percent), Larsen (1.33 percent) and Maruti (1.17 percent).


However, Dr Reddy's rose by 2.59 percent, followed by Vedanta 1.71 percent and Tata Motors 1.36 percent.


Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, power fell by 1.11 percent followed by bankex 1.10 percent, capial goods 1.09 percent, FMCG 0.98 percent, metal 0.85 percent, oil&gas 0.82 percent, teck 0.77 percent, healthcare 0.57 percent and IT 0.57 percent.


The market breadth remained negative as 1,438 stocks ended in red, 1,224 closed in green while 188 ruled steady.


The total turnover rose to Rs 2,773.00 crore from Rs 2,701.94 crore yesterday.