Sensex falls for 6th straight day, IT stocks hurt

Mumbai: The Sensex fell for the sixth day Wednesday, this time about 66 points, to end at 26,242, dragged down by major IT stocks such as Infosys and TCS amid mixed global cues.

Infosys fell 0.66 percent and TCS 1.07 percent.

The index, which had lost 389.84 points in the previous five sessions, dropped another 65.60 points, or 0.25 percent, to end at 26,242.38 -- its lowest closing since December 7. It shuttled between 26,396.00 and 26,213.51.

The 50-share NSE Nifty edged down by 21.10 points, or 0.26 percent, to end at 8,061.30, after moving between 8,112.55 and 8,053.25.

The volume remained low in view of the approaching holiday year ending.

"Though firm Asian markets lent support in the early hours, traders chose to cash in, quickly erasing the gains... Markets would now look forward to tomorrow's GST panel meet for signs of emerging consensus and the likelihood of further delays in rollout," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

FMCG, IT, technology, capital goods and healthcare sectors led the fall by up to 0.95 percent. However, buying interest was witnessed in select sectors like realty, consumer durables, power and PSU.

Sun Pharma got the biggest blow, down 2.25 percent, followed by ITC 1.44 percent. TCS, Wipro, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, L&T, Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, HUL, GAIL and Dr Reddy's all fell.

Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Lupin, NTPC, ONGC, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank and Adani Ports rose, which minimised the impact.

Coming to Asia, the stocks ended mixed. Japan Nikkei closed lower by 0.26 percent today, coming off a one-year high hit the previous day as investors shuffled their positions before the holiday season.

However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng firmed up 0.37 percent and Shanghai Composite Index 1.11 percent.

Europe opened lower in early trade, with Frankfurt falling 0.20 percent and Paris 0.40 percent. London's FTSE traded down by 0.20 percent.

As many as 15 scrips out of 30-share Sensex pack ended lower.

The FMCG index weakened 0.95 percent, followed by IT 0.75 percent, technology 0.74 percent and capital goods 0.40 percent.

The broader market saw a mixed trend, with mid-cap index falling 0.16 percent and small-cap edging up 0.03 percent.

Foreign funds net sold shares worth Rs 685.93 crore yesterday, according to provisional data.

The market breadth remained negative as 1,398 stocks ended lower, 1,191 higher while 168 remained flat.

The total turnover on BSE stood at Rs 2,221.13 crore, slightly lower than Rs 2,470.27 crore registered during the previous trading session.