Sensex, Nifty close at six-week low as oil firms skid

By Dipika Lalwani

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex fell for a fourth session in five to end at its lowest close in six weeks, with oil explorers leading the declines as global crude prices continued to tumble, while blue-chips such as Infosys were hurt by profit-taking.

Falls also tracked lower Asian shares as the slide in oil added to global growth concerns. Adding to that was heavy selling by foreign investors in domestic derivatives on Wednesday, who unwound positions worth 19.15 billion rupees ($307.3 million), exchange data showed.

Investors are now looking ahead to consumer inflation data due on Friday. A Reuters poll of 36 economists forecast that retail inflation cooled to an annual rate of 4.50 percent, marking their lowest on record because of falling food and fuel prices.

 

"Mark-to-market payouts in global ETF portfolios forced them (FIIs) to sell their global positions. Fall in the rupee also forced them to offload India portfolios," said Deven Choksey, managing director at brokerage KR Choksey.

The Sensex fell 0.82 percent to 27,602.01, while the Nifty ended 0.75 percent lower at 8,292.90. Both indexes closed at their lowest level since Oct. 30.

Lower oil prices hit Gail (India) , which closed down 2.41 percent. Jefferies said lower crude prices could have an adverse impact due to the company's petrochemical and LPG businesses.

Other oil explorers including Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Reliance Industries Ltd fell 3.23 percent and 2.83 percent respectively.

Electrical and power distribution equipment manufacturer Havells India Ltd tumbled 9.61 percent after the company cut its standalone revenue outlook.

Software services exporter Infosys Ltd , which has gained over 25 percent since May, fell 2.2 percent as investors took profits on continued weakness in the company's share price after its founders sold stock worth $1.1 billion earlier this week.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd , which has gained about 3 percent in the last two weeks, also fell on profit-taking.

Among the gainers, telecom tower company Bharti Infratel ended up 5 percent as analysts expect continued 3G rollouts will help it achieve higher rental income.

($1 = 62.3100 rupees)

(Writing by Himank Sharma; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)