Mumbai:
Snapping a five-day winning run, the benchmark BSE Sensex on Tuesday plunged by 265 points, its biggest drop in over a month, as investors booked profits in bluechips after the recent upsurge took the index to all-time high.
The Sensex, which had ended at record closing of 21,239.36 in the special Diwali 'Muhurat' trading on Sunday, fell sharply by 264.57 points, or 1.25 per cent, to close at 20,974.79 led by stocks of FMCG, Healthcare and IT sectors.
In the previous five sessions, the 30-share Sensex rose by 669 points. Today's fall in absolute terms is the worst since September 30 when it had dropped by 347.50 points.
On similar lines, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also slipped from its record high closeing level by losing 64.20 points, or 1.02 per cent to 6,253.15. On Sunday's special session, it had closed at a record 6,317.35.
Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed at 12,494.1, down 105.43 points or 0.84 per cent.
"Profit booking after several sessions of gains led to the fall. Global indices were also trading on a cautious note," said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.
Brokers said a weakening trend in Asia and lower opening in Europe on growth concerns further fuelled the selling pressure in export-oriented domestic stocks.
In the Sensex pack, 22 stocks declined while just eight gained. The major losers were Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, TCS, BHEL, GAIL India, HUL, ICICI Bank, Infosys, ITC, Jindal Steel and L&T.
Sectorally, the BSE FMCG sector suffered the most by losing 2.53 per cent, followed by BSE Healthcare index by 1.55 per cent, BSE IT sector index by 1.28 per cent and BSE TECK index by 1.25 per cent.
