Senex, Nifty Break 7-Day Winning Streak; Infosys, RIL Top Drags

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes broke their seven-day winning streak led by losses in Infosys, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Larsen & Toubro. The benchmarks opened higher but switched direction at least nine times before falling in the negative territory in noon deals. The Sensex fell as much as 413 points and the Nifty 50 index dropped below 11,900 at the day's weakest point. Analysts said profit-booking after seven days of gains led to fall in today's session. In the last seven trading sessions, Sensex has jumped 3.28 per cent and Nifty has advanced 3.10 per cent.

The Sensex ended 54 points or 0.13 per cent lower at 40,248 and the Nifty 50 index declined 0.2 per cent or 24 points to close at 11,917.

All sector gauges, barring the Nifty FMCG index, ended lower led by the Nifty Media index's 1.4 per cent fall.

Nifty Pharma, Nifty Metal, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty indexes also declined between 0.7-1 per cent each.

Mid- and small-cap shares underperformed their larger peers as the Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 1.08 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.84 per cent.

Zee Entertainment was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell 3.7 per cent to close at Rs 285.15. IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Eicher Motors, Infosys, Grasim Industries, Coal India and Tata Steel were also among the losers.

On the flipside, Bajaj Finance was top gainer, up 3.3 per cent to close at Rs 4,250. Bharti Infratel, Yes Bank, UPL, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv and State Bank of India were among the gainers.

Among the individual shares, Punjab National Bank fell 5 per cent to Rs 64.75 after its bad loans rose in September quarter.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,092 shares ended lower while 691 closed higher on the National Stock Exchange.