Sensex, Nifty Decline For Third Straight Session; Energy Shares Weigh

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell for third session in a row on Tuesday weighed down by weakness in energy, pharma and auto shares. For most part of the day, benchmarks traded in a choppy fashion and switched directions more than five times during the session before closing in the negative territory. The Sensex fell as much as 143 points and the NSE Nifty 50 index dropped below important psychological level of 11,800. Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies and Sun Pharma were among the biggest drags on the Sensex.

The Sensex closed 82 points or 0.2 per cent lower at 40,281 and the Nifty 50 index fell 32 points or 0.3 per cent to settle at 11,798.

In the last three trading sessions, the Sensex has shed 2.5 per cent and the NSE Nifty 50 index has slumped 2.7 per cent.

Fourteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended lower led by the S&P BSE Energy index's 1.6 per cent fall. S&P BSE Healthcare, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Auto indexes also fell between 1-1.2 per cent each.

On the other hand, S&P BSE Realty index was top gainer, up 1 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed a mild selling pressure. The S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap indexes declined 0.4 per cent each.

Sun Pharma was top loser in the Sensex, the stock fell 2.4 per cent to close at Rs 389.

HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were also among the losers.

On the flipside, TCS was top Sensex gainer, up 2 per cent to settle at Rs 2,158. Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Hindustan Unilever and Tech Mahindra were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,477 shares closed lower while 959 ended higher on the BSE.