Nifty falls over 1 percent as rupee nears record low

Reuters Market Eye - The Nifty declines 1 percent while the BSE Sensex is down 0.8 percent, heading towards their sixth day of falls as the rupee approaches a record low.

Banks weaken on continued disappointment by the central bank policy, with HDFC Bank falling 1.9 percent while ICICI Bank Ltd sliding 3 percent ahead of its April-June earnings later in the day.

Consumer good shares such as ITC Ltd and Hindustan Unilever Ltd fall on expensive valuations, dealers say. ITC falls 2 percent, while Hindustan Unilever is down 1 percent.

However, Bharti Airtel Ltd gains 3.3 percent after its net profit fell to 6.89 billion rupees for the fiscal first quarter ended June 31, beating analyst expectations, helped by better operating performance at home.

Foreign institutional investors bought 2.56 billion rupees of cash shares on Tuesday, exchange data shows, while domestic institutions were net sellers of 4.15 billion rupees of shares.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)