The Sensex took a tumble on Tuesday, falling below the 18,000-mark in intra-day trade for the first time in five months. The Sensex buckled to the pressures of both domestic inflation as well as flight of money to the improving American and European stock markets.

The index fell 305 points to close at 18,022. The S&P CNX Nifty fell 88 points to 5,417.

FIIs were net sellers in equities for Rs 1,036.80 crore on the BSE and the NSE. DIIs were net buyers for Rs 630.40 crore. On the BSE, retail investors were net buyers for Rs 48.07 crore.

Of the 2,922 actively traded stocks, 1,916 declined and 922 advanced. “There is no systemic support from domestic investors and institutions who are not able to absorb the FII sales,” Mr Kishor Ostwal, CMD of CNI Research, said. The market is also tense about the developments in Egypt, and the impact it could have on oil prices, he added.

Realty stocks were the worst losers with the BSE Realty falling 4.04 per cent. The auto index came next with a fall of 2.83 per cent. Mr Alex Mathew, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. said: “Rising input costs along with high inflation has led to the auto stocks underperforming.”

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