Sensex falls 68 points in choppy trade

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In highly volatile trade, the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark sensex ended lower for the second day Wednesday, losing over 68 points on sustained selling by investors who fear RBI might take more tightening measures to support falling rupee.

The 30-share sensex lost 68.16 points, or 0.36 per cent, to close at 18,664.88, after shuttling between 18,811.46 and 18,551.35. The key index had lost nearly 450 points Tuesday.

Blue-chip stock Reliance Industries gained 3.64 per cent, which saved the market from deeper fall, brokers said.

The sentiment was hit by steady fall in rupee, raising fears that RBI might take more tightening measures to check sliding domestic currency, brokers said. Investors are also concerned about a weak rupee hampering government efforts to revive economic growth.

The rupee tumbled by 63 paise to 61.40 against the dollar in the late morning trade.

Analysts said a weak trend in global markets on indications of a possible withdrawal of US monetary stimulus also hit the sentiment.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 23.15 points, or 0.42 per cent, to end at 5,519.10, after dipping below a crucial 5,500 level in the intra-day trade.

SX40 index the flagship index of MCX-SX closed at 11072.76, down 52.62, or 0.47 per cent.

Tata Motors remained under pressure after company posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings. The stock fell 2.96 per cent.

In 30-BSE index components, 15 stocks gained while other 15 closed with losses.

Major losers were Infosys, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, HeromotoCorp, ITC, Larsen and Toubro, Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services.

The IT sector index suffered the most by losing 1.60 per cent to 7,427.10, followed by auto index by 1.46 per cent to 10,076.06. FMCG index lost 1.37 per cent to 6,495.18 and Teck index by 1.16 per cent to 4,231.33.