Mumbai: Stock markets extended the losing run to the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday as persistent foreign fund outflows and the rupee breaching the psychological 90-to-dollar low hit investor sentiment, dragging the benchmark Sensex down by 31 points.
Falling for the fourth day in a row, the 30-share BSE Sensex dipped 31.46 points or 0.04 per cent to settle at 85,106.81. The index opened lower and dropped further by 374.63 points or 0.44 per cent to hit a low of 84,763.64 due to profit-taking.
The 50-share NSE Nifty skidded 46.20 points or 0.18 per cent to 25,986. After a flat start, the Nifty drifted gradually lower in early trade and then remained range-bound for most of the session.
Among Sensex firms, Bharat Electronics fell the most by 2.13 per cent. Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, NTPC, State Bank of India, Adani Ports, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Bajaj Finserv were also among the major laggards.
IT shares rebounded as the rupee fell below 90 per dollar. TCS was the biggest Sensex gainer, rising by 1.41 per cent. Infosys rose 1.12 per cent while ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank also advanced.
The BSE midcap gauge dropped 0.95 per cent and smallcap index dipped 0.43 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, capital goods tanked 1.31 per cent, followed by consumer durables (1.24 per cent), auto (1.12 per cent), power (1.05 per cent), industrials (0.99 per cent), services(0.97 per cent), consumer discretionary (0.93 per cent) and utilities (0.85 per cent).
BSE Focused IT climbed 0.79 per cent, IT jumped 0.78 per cent, while teck (0.41 per cent), telecommunication (0.29 per cent) and bankex (0.19 per cent) advanced.