Sensex falls 209 points; posts sixth day of declines

By Himank Sharma

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex fell for a sixth straight session on Tuesday to mark its longest losing streak since late July, a turbulent period marked by the slump in the rupee, as profit-taking continued after the benchmark index's record high earlier this month.

More worryingly for investors, fears have resurfaced that the U.S. Federal Reserve would scale back its bond purchases earlier than anticipated after stronger-than-expected jobs data, the same fears that punished Indian markets over the summer.

Lenders such as ICICI Bank also fell on caution ahead of consumer prices data due later in the day, amid fears that accelerating inflation would lead the RBI to raise interest rates for a third time this year.

 

"I think we are seeing some consolidation since there is a genuine fear that the U.S. tapering will start sooner than expected," said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, chief executive of Destimoney Securities Pvt Ltd.

"One needn't be extremely worried, but the momentum has turned negative for now which is leading to some amount of nervousness."

The Sensex closed down 1.02 percent, marking its longest losing streak since falling for eight consecutive days from July 24 to August 2.

The broader Nifty ended 1 percent lower.

ICICI Bank fell 2.4 percent while Axis Bank Ltd closed 2.7 percent lower ahead of the consumer price inflation data.

Punjab National Bank and State Bank of India also closed lower.

Shares in Tata Motors Ltd fell for a second day closing down 4.53 percent after its quarterly results on Friday showed that adjusted margins at its core Jaguar Land Rover unit came in lower than expected.

Shares in Sesa Sterlite Ltd fell 3.4 percent after Supreme Court upheld on Monday a mining ban at top iron ore producing state of Goa.

Other blue chips also fell on profit-taking.

Larsen & Toubro Ltd , which has gained almost 20 percent since the September end, fell 1.57 percent.

Tata Steel Ltd shares, which have gained more than 7 percent this month, fell 2.31 percent on Tuesday.

However, Canara Bank Ltd shares rose as much as 9.8 percent during the day and closed 1.86 percent higher after the state-owned lender reported lower non-performing assets on a quarter-on-quarter basis, and higher net interest income.

(Reporting by Himank Sharma; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)