Sensex continues to decline for 5th day, drops 71 points

Markets continued their downtrend for the fifth day in the late morning trade on sustained selling pressure mainly in banking, capital goods, realty, auto and PSU sectors as better than expected US jobs data fuelled concern that the Federal Reserve may reduce monetary stimulus.
The Sensex resumed lower at 20,596.40 and hovered in a range of 20,623.83 and 20,482.41 before quoting at 20,595.11 at 1030 hrs, showing a loss of 71.04 points or 0.34 per cent from its last close.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved down by 29.80 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 6,110.95 at 1030 hrs.
Major losers were Larsen (2.24 per cent), M&M (1.85 per cent), Tata Motors (1.81 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.62 per cent), Hero Motocorp (1.58 per cent), Gail India (1.53 per cent) and Tata Power (1.40 per cent).

Asian stocks showed mixed trend in their early trade. Key benchmark indices in Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea rose in the range of 0.08 per cent to 1.2 per cent while indices in China, Taiwan and Indonesia shed 0.16 per cent to 0.61 per cent.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors continued their buying spree during the last week.